Neurobiology and Genetics of Anxiety

Principal Investigators: ESA R. KORPI1, IIRIS HOVATTA2,3, JIN-HUI WANG6
Researcher: Jouko Lönnqvist4,5

1Institute of Biomedicine, Pharmacology, University of Helsinki, Biomedicum Helsinki, 2Department of Molecular Medicine, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, 3INSERM U-513, Créteil, France, 4Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, 5Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, 6Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illnesses. There has been considerable progress in the research on anxiety and there are several groups of drugs to treat patients suffering from anxiety disorders. However, detailed understanding of how anxiety reactions are provoked and conditioned at neuronal and circuitry level is lacking. Also, the current pharmacotherapy is far from optimal for the patients due to adverse side effects or slow beginning of the therapeutic efficacy.

We aim to understand regulation of anxiety on several different levels in already existing models of anxiety, in novel models developed as part of this project, and in a human anxiety disorder cohort. We will study altered gene regulation at the neuronal population level and at defined brain region level in already established experimental models of anxiety. Furthermore, we will study by electrophysiology the function of neuronal circuits relevant for the regulation of anxiety behaviour. We will also carry out a genetic association analysis in the Finnish Health 2000 cohort in order to find out if any of our recently identified candidate genes predispose to anxiety disorders. Therefore, this project will establish new targets for possible drug development and reveal novel basic mechanisms at molecular and circuitry levels in new experimental models of anxiety, and promote the less advanced research area of genetics of anxiety disorders.

The project is carried out by a Finnish-Chinese consortium Neur-Anx, combining a wide expertise in the fields of neuropharmacology, behavioral pharmacology, molecular neurobiology, electrophysiology, human genetics, and clinical psychiatry.

Contact: esa.korpi(at)helsinki.fi, tel. +358 9 1912 5330