Microscopy image of OLM cells. Scale bar – 20 µm.
Posted on 09/10/2018 9:18:54 AM PDT by ETL
The team,...,found that brain cells known as oriens-lacunosum-moleculare (OLM) interneurons, when stimulated, produce a brain rhythm that is present when animals feel safe in a threatening environment.
The researchers also showed that anxiety and risk-taking behavior can be controlled by the manipulation of OLM cells.
“To find a pathway that quickly and robustly modulates risk-taking behavior is very important for treatment of pathological anxiety since reduced risk-taking behavior is a trait in people with high anxiety levels,” they said.
“Adaptive (or normal) anxiety is essential for survival because it protects us from harm. Unfortunately, in a large number of people, anxiety can be dysfunctional and severely interfere with daily life.”
“In these cases, doctors often rely on antidepressants to help patients recover from the dysfunctional state. However, these drugs act in the entire brain and not only in the areas where it is needed and may therefore have severe side-effects.”
“Thus, to act in a single brain region and in a very specific group of cells to control anxiety may be a major breakthrough in treating anxiety and associated disorders like depression.”
Another interesting finding in the study is that OLM cells can also be controlled by pharmacological agents.
-snip-
“It is fascinating how different regions of the same brain structure control distinct behaviors and how they interact with each other,” Dr. Mikulovic said.
“Identifying specific circuits that underlie either cognitive or emotional processes is crucial for the general understanding of brain function and for more specific drug development to treat disorders.”
“The discovery of these neurons and their role in anxiety and risk-taking may open a path for the development of highly efficient anxiolytics and antidepressants without common side-effects, such as apathy.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sci-news.com ...
Schematic diagram of a conceptual SWR model, including pyramidal cells (PC), basket cells (BC), bistratified cells (BS), axo-axonic cells (AAC)
and oriens-lacunosum moleculare cells (OLM). Thin lines represent dendritic arborizations and thick lines are axonal ones. Dashed lines represent
inputs arriving from CA3 through the Schaffer collaterals (blue) or the medial septum (MS, purple). The representative spiking activity of BS, BC
and PC cells during SWRs is shown above the corresponding cells. In the model, the BS cells will respond to the CA3 input by fast spiking which
abolishes dendritic electrogenesis and somatic bursting in the PCs. BC cells also spike fast and due to their recurrent inhibition, synchronize their
firing in ripple frequencies, imposing this rhythm on the BS population as well (red and green ripple-frequency spikes). Hence, PCs receive
synchronous ripple-frequency inhibitory inputs in their dendritic and perisomatic areas (green and red ripples) along with excitatory input in their
apical dendrites (blue, sharp-wave), yielding ripple-frequency intracellular oscillations and ripple phase-locked sparse firing (black trace). A schematic SWR LFP that would result from this activity is shown on left. AA cells also received the CA3 excitation, but respond only during the
initial stages of SWRs as MS inhibition later dominates (cyan trace). Finally, the OLM cell remains silent throughout the main SWR event, due to
the MS inhibition and the lack of any CA3 excitation, only being able to spike at later stages of SWRs when the excitation from CA1 cells has
built up (brown trace). Top timescale corresponds to LFPs; bottom one to all spiking and synaptic traces. All traces are conceptual and start at the
same timepoint.
So, let’s see: bravery is “feeling safe in a risky environment”. Really?
Not quite. Bravery is submerging your own fear, your own dread and doing the right thing anyway.
There’s all kinds of bravery too. Husbands who stay faithful even when a pass is hard to resist, people who leave notes when they ding someone’s car while parking, people who tell the truth, even when they know it will have bad consequences.
Some wonderful egghead scientist figures that he’s found the key to bravery - really? He hasn’t been out in the world much, has he.
And there are brain cells that react to every other stimulus. So then, what is your point?
You can get exactly the version of bravery they are describing by getting drunk.
This is going to lead to some really unfortunate research to try and find drugs that will goose this response that can be fed to the military.
Not good.
"I feel really safe in this risky environment"
.
Or maybe just too stupid to understand the risks.
The study done in mice is said to have far reaching implications for possible new drug treatments for people with anxiety disorders, uncontrollable emotion and most democrats. Scientists are working hard to ensure there will be enough treatment available by 2020, hoping to avoid another leftist meltdown when Trump wins again.
Somehow I can’t see Pajama Boy going into a burning house to find and rescue the kids.
Hippocampus. Rosie O’Donnell’s alma mater?
“You can get exactly the version of bravery they are describing by getting drunk.”
Beat me to it.
“Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway.” - John Wayne
That lion will be getting his ass out within a few more frames.
I am pretty sure that is just a baby, best be gone before ma shows up. I’ve seen film where lions successfully killed a baby hippo but never an adult. This one seems to be made of armor.
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