2024-02-02 03:30:00
Physical exercise is the lubricant between the body and mind. Whether it’s going for a walk to refresh the mind or running in the park to recover from a stressful event, we are all aware of the beneficial impact of sport on our daily lives. In fact, the idea that exercise can prevent anxiety and depression has been supported by the accumulation of prospective cohort studies in recent years. However, apart from some general interactions between the periphery of our body and our central nervous system, it is unclear what mechanisms within our brain underlie this process of motor-dependent anxiolysis.
In it study recent “The role of the cerebellum in alleviating motor-induced anxiety” published in the journal Neuron, Dr. Jing-Ning Zhu’s group from the School of Life Sciences at Nanjing University explores a hypothalamic circuit -cerebellum-amygdalar that may mediate the relief of motor-dependent anxiety. This circuit of three neurons, in which the cerebellum occupies a central place, links the motor system with the emotional system.
In particular, the study finds a trend of negative correlation between cerebellar-amygdalar functional connectivity and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA) score in patients with bipolar disorder, suggesting an interaction between two brain regions that They may be related to anxiety.
Using retrograde transmonosynaptic rabies tracing and fluorescence micro-optical slice tomography (fMOST), researchers map, for the first time, direct long-range afferent projections from cerebellar nuclear neurons to amygdala neurons at a mesoscopic scale. in rodents suggesting that the cerebellum-amygdalar circuit appears well conserved between species.
Furthermore, using miniature fluorescence microscopy, they found that amygdala neurons activate while rats run on a rotating rotarod, and among them, the majority also respond to optogenetic stimulation of the cerebellar nuclei, indicating that the projections Cerebellar-amygdalar cells transport exercise-dependent information.
Electrophysiological results show that cerebellar-amygdalar projections are monosynaptic glutamatergic and can not only excite but also evoke long-term potentiation in amygdala neurons, which may explain the persistent effect of exercise on mood. Opto/chemogenetic activation of cerebellar-amygdalar projections significantly improves anxiety, while chemogenetic suppression of projections eliminates the anxiolytic effect of rotarod running.
The best exercises
“The results improve our understanding of the non-motor functions of the cerebellum and the neural mechanisms underlying motor-emotional interaction and somatic-nosomatic integration,” said Jing-Ning Zhu who adds in a statement: “The findings may also shed light on light on the development of more effective movement prescriptions for anxiety and mood disorders in general, such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity (VILPA), and provide a novel strategy for both invasive treatments and non-invasive forms of interventions targeting the cerebellum to alleviate anxiety.”
1706864724
#Science #explains #exercise #medicine #anxiety
