Neurologists call OLM cells the neurons of courage. In recent months, scientists have discovered that stimulating hippocampus cells reduces the feeling of threat and agitation.
This revelation opens the door to the possibility of creating new and more effective treatments for severe anxiety.
- Drs.
- Sanja Mikulovic and Samer Siwani.
- From Uppsala University in Sweden.
- Published a study in the journal Nature that undoubtedly had a big impact on the scientific community.
Until now, only OLE cells were known to be critical to memory and learning processes.
Located in the outer layer of the hippocampus, they were still those old acquaintances we called the “guardians of memory. “However, after a series of tests and analyses, we saw that we underestimated what this type of cell could do.
It has been observed that when an animal is stimulated in this small area of the brain where it is located, it ceases to be afraid of its natural predators, the way it reduces the sense of threat and initiates bolder and braver behaviors.
So have OLM cells gone from memory guardians to becoming like neurons of courage?
When anxiety levels are very high, we feel that everything is out of our hands and that the future only contains negative and undesirable events. Stimulating MSC cells would help us regain control of ourselves.
There are people who launch projects and plans on an ongoing basis without being too afraid of uncertainty, take risks, make decisions and learn from their mistakes and successes in the face of periodic challenges.
In addition, there are also profiles that use extreme sports, who like the feeling of risk and who often need these tests.
There is a common aspect between these two types of personality: initiative and good regulation of fear, so behind such risky behaviors would be, according to experts, OLM cells.
Until now, it has not been known (or not yet known) what neurological mechanisms governed such decisions.
The Department of Neuroscience at Uppsala University in Sweden worked in collaboration with the Brain Institute of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, until reaching this discovery.
What they could demonstrate at the laboratory level is that when this type of hippocampal cell is stimulated, anxiety is reduced and the feeling of risk is reduced.
So, let’s see what this discovery might entail
To understand what OLE cells may involve, we must first understand the difference between different types of anxiety.
First, anxiety itself is of paramount importance as a conditioning factor for human behavior; is, so to speak, an indispensable survival mechanism for every living being.
Studies like Emory University in Atlanta indicate that anxiety disorders are the result of altering the balance of activity in the emotional centers of the brain, so they have nothing to do with cognitive dominance.
On the other hand, it should be remembered that the anxiolytics we currently use have an impact throughout the brain, so if we can develop a drug that acts exclusively on this type of cell, we would eliminate side effects.
As you can see, the hope of this discovery is immense, and the good news is that MSOS cells were also found to be sensitive to nicotine, so there is a certainty that they can be controlled pharmacologically.
Do we look forward to further progress on this issue?