A central extended amygdala circuit that modulates anxiety

jneurosci.org

28 points·laurex··8 comments

Why is this here? If interested in the circuitry of fear and the amygdala these are better reviews:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20393190

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4565157/

Whilst this is quite interesting, I struggle to see how the animal suffering and the human brainpower + effort + resources required to do this work is justified..

> Using a combination of electrophysiological, molecular, genetic and pharmacological techniques we demonstrate that the abnormal anxiety in the mutant mice is caused by [...]

Yes, indeed, reads to me like some Clockwork Orange-ish nightmare. We should do better than experiment on animals; it is cruel to expose anyone to so much suffering: https://theintercept.com/2018/05/17/inside-the-barbaric-u-s-...

People living with anxiety disorders justify it.

They are hugely terrified by this, at the same time. \scnr

Knowing more detail about anxiety circuits in mice is very very far from helping people living with anxiety disorders.. More research on improving existing human treatments that are known to work well for many people seems to be more justifiable..

More research on improving internal combustion engines that were known to work well seemed more justifiable than pouring money into electric vehicle research.

I’m pretty sure there was a time when improving steam engines was more “justifiable” than figuring out how to make internal combustion engines too.

Or breeding stronger horses instead of researching steam engines.

So no, that’s not how science works.

For science, as they say? Let's hope the goal is the opposite of causing permanent anxiety.

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