Science News about Panic Disorder

Light Switches Brain Pathway On-and-Off to Dissect How Anxiety Works

Science Update • April 18, 2011

Scientists, for the first time, have switched anxiety on-and-off in active animals by shining light at a brain pathway. Instinctively reclusive mice suddenly began exploring normally forbidding open spaces when a blue laser activated the pathway – and retreated into a protected area when it dimmed. By contrast, anxiety-like behaviors increased when an amber laser inhibited the same pathway.

Nurturing Newborn Neurons Sharpens Minds in Mice

Press Release • April 04, 2011

Adult mice engineered to have more newborn neurons in their brain memory hub excelled at accurately discriminating between similar experiences – an ability that declines with normal aging and in some anxiety disorders. Boosting such neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus also produced antidepressant-like effects when combined with exercise, in the study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Runaway Vigilance Hormone Linked to Panic Attacks

Science Update • December 28, 2009

A study has linked panic disorder to a wayward hormone in a brain circuit that regulates vigilance. While too little of the hormone, called orexin, is known to underlie narcolepsy, the new study suggests that too much of it may lead to panic attacks that afflict 6 million American adults.

Half of Adults With Anxiety Disorders Had Psychiatric Diagnoses in Youth

Science Update • February 07, 2007

About half of adults with an anxiety disorder had symptoms of some type of psychiatric illness by age 15, a NIMH-funded study shows.

Emotion-Regulating Protein Lacking in Panic Disorder

Press Release • January 20, 2004

Three brain areas of panic disorder patients are lacking in a key component of a chemical messenger system that regulates emotion, researchers at the NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered.