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According to the statistics (R) from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, it is suggested that over 40 million people over 18 years and older suffer from a wide range of anxiety disorders. That itself should be enough to trigger the need for better treatment methods to keep this mental health condition in check.
A new study (R) conducted by the researchers from the University of California – Davis suggests that they have found a single molecule in the brain which does have the positive capacity in changing the course of dispositional anxiety. This condition which makes one feel threatened was tested out in the non-human primates.
The primary molecule that we are focusing on is that of the neurotrophin-3 is the one that stimulates the neurons to grow and then promotes the induction of new connections in the brain as well for better response.
These new findings from the study are believed to come a lot in handy in the development of the new strategies in the early on in the life for better treatment of the people with a risk of anxiety disorders, depression as well as substance abuse. The available treatment methods tend to only have impacts on the select people and just help in relieving a few of the accessory symptoms instead of the wholesome treatment.
Andrew Fox, an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Psychology and a researcher at the California National Primate Research Center, who also co-led the study suggested saying that there are millions of people across the world who suffer from various forms of anxiety disorders. Apart from the hampered quality of life, the same is also one of the key reasons behind the disabilities in individuals around.
Tade Souaiaia of the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center is yet another one of the lead author of the study. Ned Kalin, chair of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health was one of the corresponding authors of the study as well. The findings of the study were published on Biological Psychiatry.
The anxiety disorders tend to affect people during the period of adolescence and then stay with them through their lifetime. The researchers across the world are able to currently identify the children who are affected with the condition and show irritability and the associated symptoms at a very frequent interval around. These children are the ones who are at maximum risks of developing the stress related psychopathological symptoms at a later stage in life.
Changes in the amygdala
Amygdala is an important centre in the brain which is responsible for our emotional functioning, memory and a lot of our cognitive abilities. The primary stem of this study dates back to a study that was conducted around 8 years back in the preadolescent rhesus macaques.
That was the very first time that the researchers got a better look into the molecular changes on the dorsal amygdala which is the pivotal region in the brain responsible for the emotional responses.
That was when the authors did end up speculating for a fact that the altered process in the dorsal part of the amygdala could be a contributing factor behind the onset of early-life anxiety in the individuals. Ever since then, the researchers have been working to seclude the sequenced RNA to find the molecules that have contributing factors to the condition of the dispositional anxiety as well as the dorsal amygdala function.
Following all the research, they found the neurotrophin-3 to be the most potent factor that has beneficial impacts in the proper management and regulation of the condition of the anxiety disorders that many suffer from.
The researcher injected the altered virus solution in the juvenile rhesus macaques to help boost the levels of the neurotrophin-3 in the dorsal amygdala. They noticed that the increase in the levels of the neurotrophin-3 in the dorsal amygdala was associated with the reduced risks and symptoms associated with the anxiety related behaviours in the individuals.
The researchers also did conduct subsequent brain imaging techniques to help gauge a better outlook on the condition of the brain function and how the molecule was influencing the condition of anxiety and the symptoms it inflicted all throughout the brain function.
Fox suggests that this is just the beginning and the other scientists can take this to extrapolate their findings concerning the same to induce better growth and better findings in this condition to contribute to better treatment. The molecule of neurotrophin-3 is the very first one in the all types that the researchers have been found to associate with the condition of anxiety. There could very well be a number of other molecules involved. This is why it does require more research.
