Locus coeruleus anxiety

The first suggestion that abnormal noradrenergic transmission was linked with anxiety came from Redmond s laboratory in the 1970s when he drew attention to the similarities in the symptoms and signs of anxiety with those of the acute stress response (Redmond and Huang 1979). He went on to stimulate the locus coeruleus of (chair-restrained) monkeys and showed that this caused behavioural changes, some of which resembled a cluster of behaviours displayed by the animals when under threat. This work led to the proposal that anxiety was due to (or exacerbated by) excessive... 

Redmond, DE and Huang, YH (1979) New evidence for a locus coeruleus-norepinephrine connection with anxiety. Life Sci. 25 2149-2162. 

Locus coeruleus Collection of cell bodies containing about 50% of the noradrenergic neurons. Main activity is in the regulation of mood, anxiety and attention. Noradrenergic tracts innervate most regions of the brain. Thalamus This acts as a relay station for pain, temperature and other bodily sensations. 

Redmond DE Studies of the nucleus locus coeruleus in monkeys and hypotheses for neuropsychopharmacology, in Psychopharmacology The TTiird Generation of Progress. Edited by Meltzer HY. New York, Raven, 1988 Redmond DE, Huang YH New evidence for a locus ceruleus-norepinephiine connection with anxiety, life Sci 25 2149, 1979... 

But the fact that we experience anxiety—often of panic proportions in our REM sleep dreams when the locus coeruleus is shut down completely—means two things that arousal—at least in the waking sense of the term—and anxiety are completely dissociable and that the brain-mind is capable of generating anxiety without the help of the locus coeruleus In fact, REM sleep dream anxiety cannot depend upon norepinephrine, or serotonin, or histamine either, which leaves dopamine and acetylcholine as the only two neuromodulatory candidates for... 

FIGURE 5—23. Most of the cell bodies for notadrenergic neurons in the brain are located in the brainstem in an area known as the locus coeruleus. This is the headquarters for most of the important notadrenergic pathways mediating behavior and other functions such as cognition, mood, emotions, and movements. Malfunction of the locus coeruleus is hypothesized to underlie disorders in which mood and cognition intersect, such as depression, anxiety, and disorders of attention and information processing. 

Electrical stimulation of the locus coeruleus to make it overactive creates a state analogous to anxiety in experimental animals. Thus, overactivity of norepinephrine neurons is thought to underlie anxiety states (Fig. 8—12). Indeed, examples of anx-... 

FIGURE 8—12. Overactivity of norepinephrine neurons is associated with anxiety and may mediate the autonomic symptoms associated with anxiety, such as tachycardia, dilated pupils, tremor, and sweating. Shown here are hyperactive norepinephrine neurons with their axons projecting forward to the cerebral cortex from their cell bodies in the locus coeruleus. 

To gain an overview of the biological basis of anxiety with an emphasis on norepinephrine and the locus coeruleus. 

In recent years there has been considerable interest in the neurobiological basis of the anxiety disorders. It is generally accepted that the noradrenergic and serotonergic systems are causally involved in the pathogenesis of these disorders. Both the locus coeruleus and the dorsal raphe project to the... 

Autoinhibition of locus coeruleus Embryonic development Anxiety in the open field test X T ... 

In relation to affective disorders, such as anxiety and depression, there is clinical evidence of hypersecretion of CRF. with blunted responses to CRF administration. Further, in rodents, injection of CRF into the locus coeruleus produces anxiogenic responses, and CRF receptor antagonists have an anxiolytic profile in animals. Also, eating disorders have some aetiology in common, and are often associated, with clinical depression. Anorectics, like depressives. show an attenuated ACTH response to administered CRF. Also, central administration of CRF in animals potently attenuates food consumption. This evidence suggests possible applications for CRF receptor antagonists (see below). 

I Stimulation of the major brain NA nucleus, the locus coeruleus (LC) in animals gives an anxiety-hke state. 

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