26/03/2024
A UK-led team of researchers restrained mice for 6 hours to induce a stress response and then analyzed the rodents’ brains on a molecular level.
This led to the discovery of increased levels of five microRNAs (miRNAs) — small molecules that help determine which genes in a cell are expressed and which aren’t — in the amygdala, the brain region implicated in anxiety. When the researchers took a closer look at the miRNA that reached the highest levels, miR-483-5p, they saw that it suppressed the expression of the Pgap2 gene — and that this suppression appeared to provide stress relief and reduce anxiety-related behavior.
“miRNAs are strategically poised to control complex neuropsychiatric conditions such as anxiety,” said co-lead author Valentina Mosienko. “But the molecular and cellular mechanisms they use to regulate stress resilience and susceptibility were until now, largely unknown.” https://www.freethink.com/health/anxiety-gene
