(Figure:This illustration describes how ACC-BLA circuit controls innate freezing response depending on its activity level.)
When animals encounter danger, they usually respond to the situation in one of two ways: to freeze or to flee. How do they make this quick decision in a life or death moment?
According to KAIST neuroscientists, there are two types of fear: learned versus innate. The latter is known to be induced without any prior experience and is thus naturally encoded in the brain. A research team under Professor Jin-Hee Han in the Department of Biological Sciences identified the brain circuit responsible for regulating the innate fear response.
The study, which appeared in the July 24 issue of Nature Communications represents a significant step toward understanding how the neural circuits in the prefrontal cortex create behavioral responses to external threats. This also represents a new paradigm in therapeutic development for fear-related mental disorders.
Responses of freezing or fleeing when facing external threats reflect behavioral and physiological changes in an instinctive move to adapt to the new environment for survival. These responses are controlled by the emotional circuit systems of the brain and the malfunction of this circuit leads to fear-related disorders.
The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a sub-region within the prefrontal cortex, comprising a part of the brain circuitry that regulates behavioral and physiological fear responses. This area is capable of high-order processing of the perceived sensory information and conveys ‘top-down’ information toward the amygdala and brainstem areas, known as the response outlet.
Many studies have already demonstrated that the brain regions in the prefrontal cortex regulate the response against learned threats. However, it has been unknown how innate responses against fear are encoded in the neural circuits in the prefrontal cortex.
Dr. Jinho Jhang, the lead author of the study explains how the team achieved their key idea. “Many overseas studies have already proved that the prefrontal cortex circuit works to regulate the fear response. However, researchers have paid little attention to the innate response against predators. Professor Han suggested we do research on the instinctive fear response instead of the learned response. We particularly focused on the anterior cingulate region, which has been connected with memory, pain, and sympathy, but not the fear response itself. Since we turned in this new direction, we have accumulated some significant data,” said Dr. Jhang.
For this study, Professor Han’s team investigated how mice react when exposed to the olfactory stimuli of predators. Based on the results of optogenetic manipulation, neural circuit tracing, and ex vivo slice electrophysiology experiments, the team demonstrated that the anterior cingulate cortex and its projection input to the basolateral amygdala play a role in the inhibitory regulation of innate fear responses to predators’ odors in mice.
Professor Han believes these results will extend the understanding of how instinctive fear responses can be encoded in our brain circuits. “Our findings will help to develop therapeutic treatments for mental disorders aroused from fear such as panic disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder,” said Professor Han.
A team of researchers published a paper on developing a substitute for eggs using microorganisms, grabbing international attention. It is expected that the development of egg substitutes using non-animal raw materials will solve the problems of factory farming, which causes problems like increased emission of greenhouse gas and waste, and contribute to building a sustainable food system that allows easy protein intake. KAIST (President Kwang-Hyung Lee) announced that Research Professor Kyeong R
2024-07-05The 2024 Global Entrepreneurship Summer School (2024 KAIST GESS), hosted by the Office of Global Initiatives under the KAIST International Office (Director Man-Sung Yim), was held for the third time. This program allows students to visit Silicon Valley, a global startup hub, to directly experience its famous startup ecosystem and develop their capabilities for global expansion. A total of 20 students were selected through applications, interviews, final presentations, mentoring, and peer evaluat
2024-07-03An international collaborative research team has developed an image recognition technology that can accurately determine the elemental composition and the number of charge and discharge cycles of a battery by examining only its surface morphology using AI learning. KAIST (President Kwang-Hyung Lee) announced on July 2nd that Professor Seungbum Hong from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, in collaboration with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) and
2024-07-02KAIST (President Kwang-Hyung Lee) announced on June 16th that President Kwang-Hyung Lee received an honorary doctorate on the 15th, local time, from the Université de Montréal in Canada, one of the largest French-speaking universities in North America. < Image. (from left) Mr. Pierre Lassonde, Chairman of the Board of Polytechnique Montréal, President Maud Cohen of Polytechnique Montréal, President Kwang-Hyung Lee of KAIST, Chancellor Frantz Saintellemy of Uni
2024-06-16KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on June 5th that its Department of Mechanical Engineering has appointed Kwon Ji-yong, a K-Pop star better known as G-Dragon, as a visiting professor. The appointment was officiated at the “Innovate Korea 2024” event held at the KAIST Sports Complex in the morning of the 5th. This appointment was promoted to expand the global competitiveness of Korean culture by applying the latest scientific technology developed from KAIST to K-conte
2024-06-05