Science: revealing that VGLUT2 neurons play a key role in remembering and dealing with negative experiences

December 10, 2019 / Biovalley BIOON / - -- in a new study, researchers from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the University of semmelvez found that a center in the brain stem of mice regulates their ability to assess, process and remember negative experiences The related research results were recently published in the Journal of science, and the title of the paper was "medical raph controls acquisition of negative experience in the mouse" In this paper, they describe the experiments they carried out using mice to stimulate neurons and what they learned from them Satoshi ikemoto of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published an opinion type article in the same issue of science, outlining the history of research on how mammalian brains respond to threats and other negative experiences Picture from science, 2019, DOI: 10.1126/science.aay8746 As ikemoto points out, scientists have found that coping with threats is a complex task for mammals It's worth noting that people almost always respond based on past experience - for example, seeing someone shot may make people feel scared and behave accordingly when they see the gun again Ikemoto believes that the medial raphe region (MRR) located in the lower part of the brainstem may play an important role in such responses To learn more about how mice deal with negative experiences and then respond to them, the researchers conducted a series of experiments involving neuronal stimulation More specifically, they used a set of neuroscience tools they described to study neural circuits associated with negative experiences in mice, with an emphasis on MRR The researchers reported that they found that a previously unknown group of MRR neurons (called VGLUT2 neurons) in mice are the main centers for remembering and processing negative experiences and the behaviors that occur when they experience them again They also found that stimulation of these neurons in the brains of experimental mice led to avoidance type behavior and anxiety related symptoms Inhibiting this group of neurons has the opposite effect - the mice no longer respond to the experience that normally scares them The researchers point out that their experiments show that VGLUT2 neurons are essential, and indeed essential, for avoiding negative experiences and coordinating memory related responses properly, and they also play a role in storing and recalling memory related memories They suggest that more research on VGLUT2 neurons may reveal more about the role of VGLUT2 neurons in dealing with negative experiences (BIOON Com) reference: 1 Andr á s SZ ő NYI et al Median raph controls acquisition of negative experience in the mouse Science, 2019, DOI: 10.1126/science.aay8746 2 Satoshi ikemoto Regulation of negative empirical behavior Science, 2019, doi:10.1126/science.aaz8638 3.Identified: Hub in the brainstem of mice that evaluates, processes and memorizes negative experiences https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-11-hub-brainstem-mice-negative.html