New Area in the Brain Linked to Anxiety

During the month of November, Michael Koenig had a talk on the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. He discussed how it's regulation of the amygdala influences anxiety and mood disorders in humans. Anxiety is pretty unknown in neuroscience since scientists are unsure what exactly is happening. In Michael Koenig's study, it was determined that the vmPFC was found out

to be a regulator in anxiety in the brain. There could have been other factors that influence anxiety in the brain but through their findings it was clear that vmPFC is linked to mood disorders involving anxiety. It was not the only pathway for the brain and another study showed scientists found another area of the brain linked to anxiety.

The lateral septum was found to increase anxiety when it shut off. This meant that the neurons were inhibiting and they did not understand why the neurons were increasing anxiety. They guessed it was a double inhibitor that was creating a pathway and found out the hypothalamus was being inhibited along with the lateral septum. The double inhibitor led to create more anxiety in the mice. I thought this was interesting because it shows how much information is unknown about anxiety in the brain. It can be so complicated that two inhibitors create a pathway to increase anxiety in someone. There are still many researches going on that find more pathways to anxiety or mood disorders. There is also the environmental factor that can affect mood for people, it can be a huge determinant that would have an influence on different brain areas.  Even though these findings will not help treat anxiety soon, the researchers said how it could help treatments for anxiety in 10-20 years.

Works Cited:

California Institute of Technology. “Worry on the brain: Researchers find new area linked to anxiety.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 January 2014.

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140130141313.htm

Motzkin, Julian c., Carissa L. Philippi, Richard C. Wolf, Mustafa K. Baskaya, and Michael Koenigs. Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Is Critical for the Regulation of Amygdala Activity in Humans. Rep. N.p.: Biological Psychiatry, 2015. Print.

https://luc.app.box.com/neuroscienceseminar/1/4972595166/40262591634/1