Research Progress on Mechanisms in Regulating Anxiety-Related Neural Circuits

Abstract

Anxiety is a common disease in the modern society which significantly affects people’s daily lives and function, thus it has become an increasingly highlighted issue. Anxiety is regulated by neural circuits in the brain. Therefore, the basal mechanism of anxiety has been studied, especially research based on the related neural circuits. For a long time, due to the limitations of science and technology, there was no breakthrough in research regarding anxiety. However, in recent years, due to the progress of technology, the research on anxiety neural circuits has made great progress. For example, the interaction among various brain regions, such as the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA), the ventral tegmental area (VTA), the ventral hippocampus (vHPC), and so on. This article focuses on three brain regions: including BLA, BNST, and VTA, and illustrate their different roles and mechanisms in regulating anxiety. On this basis, this intensive study of anxiety will further promote the progress of anxiety research and provide therapeutic targets for the related treatment.