Scientists Pinpoint Anxiety-Driving Neurons in mouse Brain, Paving Way for Targeted Treatments
New York, NY – Researchers have identified a specific population of neurons within the amygdala responsible for triggering anxiety-like behaviors in mice, and successfully calmed those behaviors by restoring the neurons to a normal state. The groundbreaking study, published November 4, 2025, in iScience, offers a potential pathway toward more localized and effective treatments for anxiety disorders in humans.
While the amygdala’s role in processing emotions like fear and anxiety has long been established, this research pinpoints the precise neural circuits driving pathological anxiety. The team, led by neuroscientist Juan Lerma, focused on the gene GRIK4 and its expression within the amygdala. By dampening GRIK4 expression in engineered mice exhibiting heightened anxiety, researchers observed a return to normal behavioral patterns.
“We already knew the amygdala was involved in anxiety and fear, but now we’ve identified a specific population of neurons whose imbalanced activity alone is sufficient to trigger pathological behaviors,” Lerma stated.
Notably,the treatment did not fully correct deficits in object recognition memory,suggesting that other brain regions impacted by anxiety disorders require separate therapeutic approaches.Though, the success of the treatment was replicated in non-engineered mice with naturally higher anxiety levels, reinforcing the crucial role of these specific neural circuits.
The findings offer hope for developing targeted therapies that could “rebalance” these circuits,possibly offering relief from anxiety for many. Lerma suggests that targeting these specific neural circuits “could become an effective and more localized strategy to treat affective disorders.” While the processes haven’t yet been observed in the human brain, mice serve as valuable models for neurological research, hinting at the possibility of adapting similar techniques for human request.
