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NIMH grant will study oxytocin in anxiety, stress, fear disorders
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The NIMH recently awarded a 5-year $2 million grant to Joanna Dabrowska, PhD, PharmD, of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, Illinois, to explore the role of oxytocin in stress-induced psychiatric disorders.
Specifically, Dabrowska and colleague Jeremy Amiel Rosenkranz, of Rosalind Franklin University, will study how oxytocin modulates bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) activity in stress, fear and anxiety.
“Uncovering the role of oxytocin in the BNST will be a key to understanding the mechanisms underlying the neurobiology of stress-induced psychiatric disorders,” Dabrowska said in a press release. “As women are more likely to develop stress-induced psychiatric disorders than men, we will explore the role of oxytocin in both male and female brains. This will shed light on commonalities and differences in fear and anxiety circuitry between males and females.”
The study will identify new downstream substrates of oxytocin and potential pharmacotherapy targets for stress-induced mental health disorders.