The Role of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Neurabin in Anxiety- and Depression-like Behaviours

• Main Author: Kim, Susan S.
• Other Authors: Zhuo, Min
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: anterior cingulate cortex; neurabin; anxiety; depression; siRNA; microinjection; 0317
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/24590

Neurabin, a cytoskeletal protein, has been shown to be required for normal dopamine signalling, and dopaminergic systems have been previously implicated in the pathophysiology of anxiety disorders, including generalized social anxiety disorder. And results from neuroimaging studies have implicated the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in depression and anxiety disorders. However, lesion studies have failed to produce the expected deficits. Here, we demonstrate that the injections of muscimol and midazolam into the ACC reduced anxiety- and depression-like behaviours, and that complete absence of neurabin reduced anxiety-like behaviour but increased depression-like behaviour. However, reduction of neurabin by injecting neurabin-targeted siRNA into the ACC reduced anxiety-like behaviour but did not affect depression-like behaviour. This study provides evidence that the imbalance of excitatory and inhibitory activity in the ACC alters affective disorders, and that neurabin may be critical for the modulation of these behaviours.