Process are able to “buffer” the events in the brain … – La Vanguardia

Madrid. (Efe) .- The perception that there are people who see the world as a glass half empty has a chemical explanation in the the brain and now an international team of scientists says it has found a process that is capable of “ cushion ” this sensitivity Brain Events negative life .

The results of this study, led by researchers at the University of California, published in Science .

experiments were conducted in mice and this new control mechanism to reduce the sensitivity to negative events has been located in a brain region called the lateral habenula (LHB), a region above the thalamus is known as the center “disappointment” and which is involved in depression.

In fact, experiments in other laboratories with primates found that neural activity in the lateral habenula increases significantly when the animals are waiting for a reward and not receiving, so this region is associated with disappointment, detailed Efe Roberto Malinow, one of the signatories.

However, this brain area is much more important than this and it is believed is also involved in the regulation of responses pain in a variety of behaviors related to motivation and even psychosis, according to a note by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The glutamate and GABA are two common neurotransmitters-the first is an excitatory neurotransmitter and the second an inhibitor-and neurons generally specialize in their production, ie produce one or the other but not both types of chemical messages.

In this paper The researchers found that the connections in the habenula can produce both glutamate and GABA.

Depression, according Malinow, is linked to hyperactivity in the lateral habenula.

article suggests that in healthy levels of glutamate and GABA are balanced, but that in a depressed not (it was found that in a model of depression in rats these connections produce less GABA).

when delivered to an antidepressant to increase levels of serotinin rats, GABA levels also increased.

This study suggests, therefore, that one of the pathways by which serotonin relieves depression is through balanced levels of the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA in the habenula.

It is now possible to “have an accurate picture of why antidepressants make some people more resistant to the negative experiences people neurochemical explanation,” according to scientific.