A study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) on rhesus monkeys found that high levels of activity in brain circuits linked to anxiety, which are hereditary, can anticipate anxiety and depression in the future.
Research has suggested that the relationship between genetics and a child’s risk of developing stress-related illness may be due to the brain’s metabolism, not its structure.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States, published their study in the journal, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).
In their experiment, they exposed the young monkeys to a moderately threatening situation that a child might also face, an encounter with a stranger who shies away from him.
During the encounter, the researchers took brain scans of the monkeys, like those used on humans, and found that the differences in brain function between the monkeys could be explained by their family tree. It was therefore more likely that a young monkey who had an anxious family history would feel more anxiety about the situation.
For researchers, the functioning of the brain in the prefrontal-limbic-mesencephalic circuit plays an important role in the development of anxiety inherited from early childhood. It is responsible for the functioning of many human emotions and actions. More specifically, the limbic mesencephalic prefrontal circuit feels a threatening situation and as a result initiates anxiety-related responses.
Apes, like humans, can become anxious and can pass their anxiety-related genes to their offspring.
Using brain imaging and family tree information, the researchers were able to conclude that it was the functioning of the brain, not its structure, that made the connection between genetics and children’s risk of developing disease. psychological stress.
