During an experiment in 2011, scientists from the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and the National Institute for Agricultural Research (Inra) had mice consume omega 3. Result: their stress had increased. This phenomenon was linked to a reduced production of endocannabinoids, lipids in the brain that control synaptic memory (memory of signals between two nerve cells).
The research team continued to research different types of stress to better understand the links between anxiety and endocannabinoid-dependent synaptic plasticity. These works, published on July 21 in the Cell Reports journal, reveal that endocannabinoid-dependent plasticity in the nucleus accumbens is the neurobiological substrate of anxiety.
Rodents, uneven in the face of stress
During the experiments, scientists found that rodents did not react to stress in the same way. They subjected the mice to chronic stress and measured their emotional symptoms through behavioral tests: isolation, labyrinth, anxiety-inducing environment.
Result: some animals were naturally more stress resistant. A capacity due to better plasticity of neurons in the nucleus accumbens, an area of the brain involved in the regulation of emotions and stress, where endocannabinoids play an important role in memory at the synaptic level.
The researchers gave the rodents that exhibited anxiety a treatment stimulating the production of endocannabinoids in the nucleus accumbens. They then observed a reduction in stress. These results highlight the link between the production of endocannabinoids in the nucleus accumbens and the development of anxiety disorders in the face of chronic stress.
Omega 3 research to follow
A discovery that offers new avenues for developing pharmacological and nutritional strategies in the stress management, such as the use of molecules modulating the natural production of endocannabinoids, including Omega 3.
Objective of the next research? Understand how omega 3 protects the plasticity of the nucleus accumbens and can stimulate the production of endocannabinoids under stress.
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– The right anti-stress nutrients
