A recent research by Stanford university researchers can prove to be a big step in the treatment of anxiety disorders among humans, which unfortunately affect more than 40 million adults in the US alone.
According to the research, Stimulating certain parts of the brain with pulses of light could prevent feelings of anxiety.
How the researchers arrived at the above conclusion:
Scientists successfully pinpointed the neural circuit that controls anxious behavior in mice and were able to manipulate it using light. During tests, the amygdala region of the mice's brains was exposed to specially-structured fiber-optic cables, and depending on which cells were exposed to the light, the mice became less fearful of their surroundings or more inhibited. That is, once the pinpointed regions of a mouse are exposed to a particular frequency of light; it started to behave contrary to its usual behavior, where it usually try to avoid wide-open spaces that could expose it to predators, it started showing more willingness to explore open areas.
The scientists were also able to make the mice more anxious and less daring by deactivating the cells with a different light frequency.
The researchers say that the human brain is structured in a similar way to those of mice, and hence hope the study will help them understand anxiety more than they do now.
--------
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(
Atom
)
No comments
Post a Comment