Japanese scientists have discovered a small group of neurons that is crucial for a psychological state. By manipulating their activity, they plan to provide treatment and prevention for depression, as well as to study the origin of mental disorders.
Chronic stress is a major risk factor for mental disorders, but the exact mechanisms underlying the stress response are poorly understood. Researchers from Osaka University have made an important discovery in this area: they showed that a group of cells in the claustrum controls stress-related responses, writes EurekAlert.
The claustrum, or cerebral fencing, is the thinnest layer of gray matter under the cerebral cortex. The scientists knew that the processing of stress responses depended on communication between cortical and subcortical areas of the brain, so they set out to track and map cellular activity during periods of stress using high-precision tomography.
In mouse models, it was shown that of the 22 brain regions analyzed, the claustrum turned out to be a key region that changed in two states - stress and calmness. “Brain activation mapping serves as a reliable biomarker for acute stress exposure,” the authors said.
In further experiments, it turned out that an increase in the activity of cells in the claustrum increased the anxiety behavior of animals, while suppression, on the contrary, made them resistant to the effects of chronic stress.
"Inactivation of stress-sensitive claustrum neurons could be a preventive measure for depression and a tool to increase resilience to emotional stress," said author Hitoshi Hashimoto. In addition to developing therapeutic strategies, scientists also plan to study the characteristics of these cells in order to better understand the causes of various mental disorders.
Recently, scientists have demonstrated the negative impact of chronic stress on health: this condition accelerates the biological age of a person.
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