It is the release Of dopamine in a specific brain circuit to report When you can erase a fear Why The danger has ceased: the mechanism, discovered in micecould become the target of new therapies againstanxiety and the post-traumatic stress disorder. This was indicated by the study of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published in the magazine of the Academy of American Sciences (PNAS).
“Dopamine is essential to start the extinction of fear”, observes the Italian neuroscientist Michele Pignatelli of Spinazzola, among the authors of the research. “We discovered that the dopamine Activate specific amigdala neurons linked to rewardthat in turn they stimulate the extinction of fear“, Specifies the researcher Xiangyu Zhang.” Now we understand that Distimpire fear it doesn’t just mean repressing it, but it is a learning process positive powered by brain reward mechanism. This opens new roads for the comprehension and the potential treatment Of Disorders related to fear like post-traumatic stress disorder “.
Through a series of experimentsthe researchers have shown that the cerebral circuit involved in the removal of fears ha origin in the‘Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA)a region close to the base of the brain that codifies surprising experiences so that they are from lesson.
When the mouse learns that a place is dangerous (because at that point it receives a small electric shock on the paws), the neurons in the front and on the left and right sides of the VTA send dopamine to the neurons that are found in the front of the pronouncement and which express the RSPO2 gene.
When the mouse learns that a place is no longer dangerous (because by remaining there the shock is not repeated), the neurons of the central and posterior part of the VTA send dopamine to the neurons of the back of the Basulation Amigdala that express the Gene ppp1r1b and codify the feeling of reward and relief: that’s how a New memory of extinction of fear That surpasses the original terror.
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