NOVEL DRUG FOR UNEXCITING ANXIOUS BRAIN IN ANXIETY DISORDERS

NOVEL DRUG FOR UNEXCITING ANXIOUS BRAIN IN ANXIETY DISORDER

Edited by, JASPER VICTORIA

Anxiety disorder is a mental health disorder characterized by excessive fear, dread, worry or anxiety that often interferes with the day to day chores of an individual. Thousands of people find it hard to live with anxiety disorder. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors are the usually prescribed drugs for anxiety disorders.

The researchers of the Tokyo University of Science and University of Tsukuba found a drug that reduces the Glutamate-induced neurotransmission observed during anxiety.

The experimental studies were performed in a mouse model. The drug examined was KNT-127. It was found to reduce the excitatory neurotransmitter Glutamate in the (PL-PFC) Pre-limbic sub-region of the medial pre-frontal cortex known to control certain emotional events. They measured the glutamate release in the pre-synapse of certain glutaminergic neurons with and without the influence of the drug under experiment (KNT-127), in which the mice that had been treated with KNT-127 showed reduced levels of glutamate release which resulted in a decrease in the anxious behaviour associated with the anxiety disorder in them. The drug was known to activate the Delta opioid receptors.

The excitatory neurotransmission were reduced as the glutamate release in the synapses were low, Hence lowering the activity of the anxious brain, eliciting an anxiolytic effect.

The drug can, therefore, further be developed  and exploited for use in anxiety disorder.