Successfully using light to control "anxious cells" that is the source of "anxiety" in the mind

byOladimeji Odunsi

The neuroscientists at Columbia University and the University of California San Francisco found that when a mouse feels anxious, it induces actions taken when certain cells in the brain ignite and feel uneasy . This cell is named "anxious cell" and it is suggested that it may exist also in the human brain.

Anxiety Cells in a Hippocampal-Hypothalamic Circuit: Neuron
http://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(18)30019-9


'Anxiety cells' identified in the brain's hippocampus | EurekAlert! Science News
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-01/cumc-ci013018.php

If a person feels uneasy, such as walking alone in poor city in the night and sweating their hands, it will affect the mind and body. About this feeling of "anxiety", the neuroscientists at Columbia University and the University of California San Francisco studied and discovered the existence of "anxious cells" that ignite in the deep part of the brain when a new "anxiety" is felt I will.

According to the published paper, when the experimental mouse feels uneasy, cell ignition is observed in the hippocampus of the brain. About this cell, Dr. James Han of Columbia University, who worked on the research, said, "Since these cells ignite only when they are in a place where animals are inherently afraid, they are called" anxious cells " In the case of a mouse, ignition of this cell is frequently observed when it is in a wide place where there is a danger of being attacked by a wild carnivorous beast. "

This anxious cell was observed in the brain "Hippocamp". Although the hippocampus is known as a brain organ related to memory and spatial learning ability, it is also obvious that in the latest research the hippocampus is also involved in the mood regulation of the animal and the anxiety can be alleviated by the change occurring in the front of the hippocampus It was becoming.

byEdwin Andrade

After finding this anxious cell, the research team "OptogeneticsWe will conduct an experiment using a method called " Optogeneratics is a "method of controlling cells using light" developed with hints from electrical activity that can be observed with specific algae.

The research team uses optogenetics to prepare places where the mouse feels "anxiety" or "fear" among actual environmental stimuli. Specifically, we prepare "a wide space that you feel when you encounter wildlife" and "a narrow maze to escape when you feel uneasy" and control so that anxiety cells will not ignite using optogenetics did. Normally, the mouse feels uneasy in a wide space and escapes into a small space, but when controlling anxiety cells not to ignite using light, it seems that it does not escape into a narrow space. On the other hand, when anxious cells were ignited using optogenetics, the mouse kept taking actions to take in the event of anxiety even in a safe place.


We have succeeded in controlling the feelings of anxiety by controlling anxiety cells in the mouse's brain, but this research is still at the experimental stage, and in fact the same as a mouse in the human brain It is unknown whether there are anxious cells. However, the research team says it is highly likely that the same cells will be present in the human brain.

About this discovery, Dr. Mazen · Kiabeck, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, said, "It may be that the brain is able to take action against places that induce anxiety without going through higher brain areas "Jessica Jimenez, a student at Columbia University who participated in the study said," Since anxious cells were found in the hippocampus, a new area to explore the previously unknown treatment ideas It can be said that it was opened, "suggesting the possibility that research focusing on anxious cells will spread in the future.