Fear Circuit and Anxiety Disorders

Abstract

Recent progress in the study on conditioned fear memory has shown us a neural circuit mechanism underlying this fear (fear circuit). It is thought that fear circuit participates in particular anxiety disorders. From this point of view, elucidation of the biological mechanism controlling fear circuit is also significant. In the first half of this review, I would like to mainly introduce recent topics on the fear circuit studies. In the second half, our studies on the biological system that controls fear circuit are illustrated. It is expected that the elucidation of the fear circuit and its control systems opens a new venue for development of an effective treatment of anxiety disorders.