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Amygdala

All articles tagged with #amygdala

Brain circuit links social memory to fear, triggering aversion in mice
science-and-health7 hours ago

Brain circuit links social memory to fear, triggering aversion in mice

University of Tokyo researchers identify a hippocampus–amygdala circuit that binds the memory of a familiar mouse to fear, causing avoidance after aggressive encounters; using optogenetics they could strengthen or erase this aversion, with the nucleus accumbens helping translate memory and fear into avoidance. While demonstrated in mice, the findings offer clues about how social memory and negative emotions interact, with potential relevance for anxiety and depression in humans.

via The Japan Times|
#amygdala#hippocampus#neuroscience
Timing of Childhood Trauma Shapes Distinct Brain Signatures in Adulthood
neuroscience6 days ago

Timing of Childhood Trauma Shapes Distinct Brain Signatures in Adulthood

A study of 635 adults using fMRI found that the age at which abuse occurs matters for later emotion processing: abuse before age 13 is linked to heightened hippocampal activity during rapid, non-conscious emotion processing, while abuse in adolescence (13–18) is linked to heightened amygdala activity during conscious emotion processing. These patterns persisted across various mental health diagnoses and healthy controls, suggesting the timing of adversity leaves lasting neural marks and could guide targeted interventions, though retrospective reporting and cross-sectional design limit conclusions.

via PsyPost|
#amygdala#childhood-abuse#emotion-processing
Timing of Childhood Trauma Rewires Brain–Immune Fear Circuits
science1 month ago

Timing of Childhood Trauma Rewires Brain–Immune Fear Circuits

A 128-participant fMRI study from Guangzhou University links the type and timing of childhood maltreatment to lasting neuro-immune changes: early childhood abuse (ages 1–11) modulates amygdala–IL-8 coupling during fear learning, late adolescence neglect (ages 12–18) reshapes vmPFC–IL-8 connections, and early neglect alters amygdala–vmPFC and hippocampus–vmPFC connectivity with IL-17; the findings support a maturation-matched vulnerability and point to therapies that target both fear circuits and systemic inflammation.

via Neuroscience News|
#amygdala#childhood-trauma#fear-learning
Targeted amygdala circuit tweak reverses anxiety in mice
science1 month ago

Targeted amygdala circuit tweak reverses anxiety in mice

A study in iScience links imbalanced activity of a Grik4/GluK4-rich neuron group in the basolateral amygdala to anxiety-like and social withdrawal behaviors in mice. Restoring this balance to improve signaling with centrolateral inhibitory neurons reversed anxiety and social deficits in both a genetic model and wild-type mice with high anxiety, though some memory issues persisted, hinting at broader circuit targets for affective disorders.

via ScienceDaily|
#amygdala#anxiety#gluk4
Long COVID Not Driven by Widespread Brain Inflammation; Emotions Centers Linked to Symptom Severity
health1 month ago

Long COVID Not Driven by Widespread Brain Inflammation; Emotions Centers Linked to Symptom Severity

Finnish researchers used TSPO-PET and MRI to scan 14 long COVID patients, 11 healthy controls, and 13 MS patients, finding no evidence of widespread brain inflammation in long COVID and suggesting inflammatory activity may be higher earlier after infection and fade over time. Notably, more severe symptoms correlated with increased activity in emotion-regulation regions like the amygdala and hippocampus, pointing to emotional processing rather than ongoing neuroinflammation as a potential driver and hinting that treatments could focus on stress management and emotional regulation rather than solely anti-inflammatory approaches. The study is published in the Journal of Neurology (2026).

via SciTechDaily|
#amygdala#brain-inflammation#health
Night Shifts Subtly Shrink Brain Regions, But Reversals Occur After Stopping
science1 month ago

Night Shifts Subtly Shrink Brain Regions, But Reversals Occur After Stopping

A large UK Biobank MRI study found that among 2,122 shift workers, there is a modest, symmetrical loss of brain volume in the right thalamus and left amygdala (areas tied to sleep regulation, emotion, and memory) with associated white‑matter changes. The negative association with cognitive performance is small, and the researchers caution interpretation. Importantly, ceasing shift work was linked to partial recovery of brain volume within about 2.5 years, suggesting a potential reversible window, though the study focused on older adults and applicability to younger workers remains uncertain.

via ScienceAlert|
#amygdala#brain-volume#circadian-rhythm
Long COVID Symptoms Linked to Mood-Processing Brain Activity, Not Widespread Inflammation
health-and-medicine1 month ago

Long COVID Symptoms Linked to Mood-Processing Brain Activity, Not Widespread Inflammation

A University of Turku study using PET and MRI found no evidence of widespread brain inflammation in long COVID patients compared with healthy controls. Inflammation may be higher earlier after infection and fade over time. More severe symptoms correlated with increased activity in emotion-related regions (hippocampus and amygdala), suggesting treatments focusing on stress management and emotional regulation rather than solely anti-inflammatory approaches.

via ScienceDaily|
#amygdala#brain-inflammation#health-and-medicine
Shift Work Linked to Subtle Shrinkage in Amygdala and Thalamus, Reversible Upon Stopping
neuroscience1 month ago

Shift Work Linked to Subtle Shrinkage in Amygdala and Thalamus, Reversible Upon Stopping

An analysis of UK Biobank data found that people who work shifts show a small but detectable volume loss in the left amygdala and right thalamus compared with non-shift workers, with greater loss at higher shift-work frequency. In participants who ceased shift work, the brain-volume decline halted within about 2.4 years and may show slight recovery; additional microstructural changes and lower scores on memory, processing speed, and fluid intelligence were observed. The authors caution that causality cannot be established and the effects are small, noting the UK Biobank sample is healthier and less diverse than the general population.

via PsyPost|
#amygdala#brain-volume-loss#neuroscience
Psilocybin’s 5-HT2A activation linked to lasting brain plasticity in mice
neuroscience3 months ago

Psilocybin’s 5-HT2A activation linked to lasting brain plasticity in mice

A mouse study shows psilocybin dose-dependently activates the brain’s 5-HT2A receptors in the prefrontal cortex, with an inverted-U relationship for acute behaviors. The following day, moderate doses reduced anxiety-like exploration and higher doses decreased depression-like immobility, coinciding with changes in microtubule dynamics and increased synaptic plasticity proteins—primarily in the prefrontal cortex, not the amygdala—suggesting a neural mechanism for lasting antidepressant effects, though results in animals may not directly translate to humans.

via PsyPost|
#5-ht2a#amygdala#neuroplasticity
Amygdala Shifts Between Learning Strategies to Enable Flexible Choices
science4 months ago

Amygdala Shifts Between Learning Strategies to Enable Flexible Choices

New Dartmouth-led research reframes the amygdala as a dynamic arbiter that toggles between action-based and stimulus-based learning under uncertainty, promoting flexible decision-making. When the amygdala is damaged, arbitration becomes random and behavior locks into rigid action-based patterns. The findings offer a potential path for treating phobias and anxiety by encouraging action-based exploration over stimulus-driven fear, and pave the way for further studies on how the amygdala coordinates with prefrontal circuits to guide learning.

via Neuroscience News|
#amygdala#arbitration#decision-making
The rare condition that eliminates fear sensation
science9 months ago

The rare condition that eliminates fear sensation

Some rare individuals, like Jordy Cernik and SM, lack the ability to feel fear due to damage or mutation affecting the amygdala, a brain region involved in processing fear, revealing that fear responses are complex and can be specific to external or internal threats, with implications for understanding survival and modern stress.

via BBC|
#amygdala#brain#emotion