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| Fear is highly adaptive
in that it serves to protect us from harm
in threatening situations. However,
when fear is extreme or when it is inappropriate
to the situation, it is no longer adaptive. My
research is concerned with the neural circuits
responsible for mediating fear as a useful
adaptation, as well as with how altered brain
function might promote maladaptive levels
of fear. We use animal models of anxiety
(rats being our animal of choice) to study
how fear is regulated in the brain (e.g.,
what brain structures, neurochemicals and
receptor types are involved?). We also
explore how these neural systems and the
defensive behaviors they regulate are modified
by prior experience (e.g., maternal neglect
in early life and/or chronic stress in adulthood). Our
experimental approach involves behavioral
testing, maternal care paradigms, intra-cerebral
and peripheral drug administration, neuroanatomical
lesions and immunohistochemistry. |
