A US study suggests a molecule called CGRP prompts fear responses in the brain and its deactivation may help treat disorders like PTSD, migraines and an autism spectrum disorder
A team of researchers in the US have discovered a molecular pathway that processes threatening sights, sounds and smells into a fear response.
“We were excited to find that the CGRP neurons are activated by negative sensory cues from all five senses—sight, sound, taste, smell and touch. Identifying new threat pathways provides insights into treating fear-related disorders.” “Based on these two pools of research, we proposed that CGRP neurons, found especially in subregions of the thalamus and the brainstem, relay multisensory threat information to the amygdala,” says co-first author Shijia Liu, a graduate student in the Han lab.
Their findings indicate that the CGRP neurons, one set in the thalamus, and one set in the brain stem, form two distinct circuits as they connect to non-overlapping areas of the amygdala. “This suggests that the circuits reported here may also be involved in threat perception-related psychiatric disorders.”
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