Grant: Project Grant

A large number of Canadians suffer from anxiety disorders. Unfortunately, the treatments available to them are limited by their inconsistent effectiveness, side effects and abuse potential. Anxiety is a complicated emotional state that involves a rather poorly understood interconnected network of brain regions that serve to evaluate the potential risks and benefits available to people and animals. It is hypothesized that perturbations in this distributed network can lead to an overemphasis of risks resulting in anxiety. A logical approach for developing new treatments for anxiety disorders is to get a better understanding of how different regions of the brain function together to produce excessive anxiety. Towards this goal, our laboratory has identified the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) as a potentially key node in the neural network that mediates anxiety. In fact, the PVT is of special interest for understanding the neural mechanisms of anxiety because it is connected with many of the key regions of the brain identified as being part of the neural network that controls anxiety levels. In this application, we propose to apply innovative techniques that combine viral vectors and biological engineering tools to identify and precisely control the neural circuits by which the PVT modulates anxiety-like behaviors in a rodent model of stress-induced anxiety. This research will give us a better understanding of how the thalamus interacts with other brain regions to control anxiety in a way that could lead to new and more effective treatments for anxiety disorders.