Discovery About Brain Protein Could Impact Treatment for Anxiety, Trauma

Researchers have found that the protein PC7 plays a critical role in specific areas of the brain, such as the hippocampus and amygdala, and affects certain types of cognitive performance, such as anxiety, learning and emotional memory. Testing on mice lacking PC7 revealed that although spatial memory remained intact, episodic and emotional memories were severely impaired, and that they also had lower levels of the protein BDNF. The study further showed that a lack of PC7 creates an excess of dopamine in the brain, which ultimately means that “[this] discovery could be very significant for a number of conditions related to anxiety and trauma, such as bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.” Click here to read the full article.