Study finds cerebellar serotonin as a "brake" to alleviate anxiety

Understanding the neural circuits that drive anxiety may help researchers discover circuit-specific targets and therefore increase the precision of treatment strategies. Previous studies have separately suggested that increased serotonin levels and the cerebellum may play roles in anxiety.

To explore the relationship between these ideas, Pei Chin, from the University of Pennsylvania, and George Augustine, from Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, probed whether serotonin in the cerebellum causes anxiety behavior in mice. Contrary to previous findings, mice displaying anxiety-like behavior had lower amounts of cerebellar serotonin, while less anxious mice had increased serotonin in the cerebellum.

Chin and Augustine then discovered that they could bidirectionally influence anxiety behavior by artificially stimulating or inhibiting the neurons that release serotonin into the cerebellum. According to the authors, this newfound role of cerebellar serotonin as a "brake" to alleviate anxiety is informative for work in more advanced animal models and the development of new treatment strategies.