Center for Neural Systems of Fear & Anxiety

在阐明动物条件性恐惧的神经通路方面已经取得了相当大的进展。这项研究涉及以杏仁核为中心的回路，以及杏仁核、海马体和内侧额叶皮质(MPFC)之间的相互作用，在获得和/或表达条件性恐惧的不同方面。在人类身上的研究已经证实了动物工作的基本方面。此外，同样的三个大脑区域(杏仁核、海马体、mPFC)也与压力荷尔蒙的调节有关，在患有恐惧/焦虑障碍的患者中也经常发生变化。指导恐惧和焦虑神经科学中心(CNFA)研究的总体假设是，压力的影响 与健康对照组相比，动物的恐惧回路模拟了与恐惧相关的疾病患者大脑中发生的变化。为了测试和探索这一假设的含义，我们使用相同的行为范式--恐惧条件反射--来研究大鼠、正常人和恐惧障碍患者。这项动物研究的目的是研究压力对恐惧回路的行为功能、生理和形态的影响。对正常人进行研究的目的是使用行为方法和功能磁共振成像来扩大我们对人脑中恐惧机制的理解，并开发新的探测器来测试恐惧障碍患者。对恐惧症患者进行研究的目的是确定 在患有恐惧障碍的患者中，健康人在恐惧过程中大脑功能激活的模式会发生变化，以及这些变化是否与动物工作中确定的压力对恐惧回路的影响一致。在追求这些目标的过程中，还将在不同的项目中探索几个新的主题，包括强调恐惧中的回路相互作用、个体和性别差异的作用以及与治疗相关的问题。通过这项转化性研究，我们希望揭示恐惧/焦虑症患者大脑机制的变化，并从长远来看，确定如何治疗或预防此类疾病的新假说。

Considerable progress has been made in elucidating the neural pathways underlying conditioned fear in animals. This work has implicated circuits centered around the amygdala, and interactions between the amygdala, hippocampus and medial frontal cortex (mPFC), in the acquisition and/or expression of different aspects of conditioned fear. Research in humans has confirmed essential aspects of the animal work. Further, the same trio of brain regions (amygdala, hippocampus, mPFC) are also implicated in the regulation of stress hormones and are also often altered in patients with fear/anxiety disorders. The overall hypothesis guiding research in the Center for the Neuroscience of Fear and Anxiety (CNFA) is that the effects of stress on fear circuits in animals mimics changes that occur in the brains of patients with fear-related disorders relative to healthy controls. To test and explore the implications of this hypothesis, we use the same behavioral paradigm, fear conditioning, to study rats, normal humans, and patients with fear disorders. The aim of the animal work is to examine the effects of stress on the behavioral functions, physiology, and morphology of fear circuits. The aim of the studies of normal humans is to use behavioral methods and fMRI to extend our understanding of fear mechanisms in the human brain and to develop new probes for testing patients with fear disorders. And the aim of the studies of patients with fear disorders is to determine whether the patterns of functional brain activation during fear in healthy humans are altered in patients with fear disorders, and whether these alterations are consistent with the effects of stress on fear circuits, as determined in the animal work. In pursuing these goals, several new themes will also be pursued across the various projects, including an emphasis on questions about circuit interactions in fear, the role of individual and sex differences, and treatment related issues. Through this translational research we hope to reveal brain mechanisms that are altered in patients with fear/anxiety disorders and, in the long run, to identify new hypotheses about how to treat or prevent such disorders.