Involvement of Serotonergic and Relaxin-3 Neuropeptide Systems in the Expression of Anxiety-like Behavior

AJ Lawther; A Flavell; S Ma; S Kent; CA Lowry; AL Gundlach; MW Hale

Journal article

Involvement of Serotonergic and Relaxin-3 Neuropeptide Systems in the Expression of Anxiety-like Behavior

AJ Lawther, A Flavell, S Ma, S Kent, CA Lowry, AL Gundlach, MW Hale

Neuroscience | PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD | Published : 2018

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2018.08.007

Abstract

Anxiety-related defensive behavior is controlled by a distributed network of brain regions and interconnected neural circuits. The dorsal raphe nucleus (DR), which contains the majority of forebrain-projecting serotonergic neurons, is a key brain region involved in fear states and anxiety-related behavior via modulation of this broad neural network. Evidence suggests that relaxin-3 neurons in the nucleus incertus (NI) may also interact with this network, however, the potential role of the NI in the control of anxiety-related defensive behavior requires further investigation. In this study, we examined the response of an anxiety-related neuronal network, including serotonergic neurons in the ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Andrew Gundlach Author

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Grants

Awarded by National Institute of Mental Health

Funding Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia (grant numbers 1005985, 1067522, ALG); the Dorothy Levien Foundation (ALG); The Florey Foundation (ALG) and by the Victorian Government Operational Infrastructure Support Program (The Florey). AJL is the recipient of an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) Scholarship. CAL is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (grant number 1R21MH116263); Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) Award (grant number N00014-15-1-2809); Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Research and Development (VA-ORD) RR&D Small Projects in Rehabilitation Research (SPiRE) (I21) (grant number 1 I21 RX002232-01); Colorado Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) Center for Neuroscience (grant number CNSTT-15-145); the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE; grant number DCEED-3510); and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (grant number, G-2016-7077).