Fear and anxiety circuit mechanisms in anterior hypothalamic nucleus

项目总结/摘要 急性严重的压力在塑造心理健康方面起着关键作用，使个体易受一系列 使人衰弱的病症，包括创伤后应激障碍和焦虑症。这些条件 难以治疗并且可用的药物的功效有限。因此，非常有必要 发现新的治疗方法了解大脑如何处理化合价（即，压力的大小） 经验对于确定新的生物干预点至关重要。这是因为， 压力事件强烈影响其对疾病相关行为的持久后果。在这里，我们建议 探索下丘脑前核（AHN）的贡献-一个先前已经被发现的大脑区域 很少有人关注压力体验的感知效价和持久影响。

Project Summary/Abstract Acute severe stress plays a pivotal role in shaping mental health, predisposing individuals to an array of debilitating conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorders. These conditions are difficult to treat and available pharmaceuticals are of limited efficacy. There is therefore a great need to discover novel treatments. Understanding how the brain processes the valence (i.e., magnitude) of stressful experiences is critical for identifying new biological points of intervention. This is because the valence of stressful events strongly influences their lasting consequences on disease-related behavior. Here, we propose to explore the contribution of the anterior hypothalamic nucleus (AHN) – a brain region that has previously received little attention – to the perceived valence and lasting impacts of stressful experiences.