Brain protein linked to the emotion fear

NEW YORK, Nov 19, 2005 (UPI via COMTEX) -- U.S. researchers have found a protein the brain uses to generate one of the most powerful emotions in humans and animals -- fear.

The molecule is essential for triggering both the innate fears that animals are born with -- such as the shadow of an approaching predator -- as well as fears that arise later in life due to individual experiences.

Eric R. Kandel of Columbia University in New York found that the protein stathmin is critical for both innate and learned fear.

Eliminating the gene that encodes this factor makes a fearful mouse courageous. The finding suggests new approaches for drugs designed to treat conditions such as phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.

The research, published in the journal Cell, was carried out by lead author Gleb Shumyatsky, a post-doctoral fellow from Kandel's lab who is now at Rutgers University, and other scientists from Columbia, Rutgers, Harvard Medical School and Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

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