The RUB news portal reports:

The absence of a certain serotonin receptor helps to unlearn fear faster.

The neurotransmitter serotonin plays an important role in the development, but also in the unlearning of fear and anxiety. A research team from General Zoology and Neurobiology led by Dr. Katharina Spoida and Dr. Sandra Süß in the Collaborative Research Centre “Extinction Learning” at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum has investigated the mechanisms behind this. The researchers were able to show that mice lacking a certain serotonin receptor unlearn fear much faster than the wild type. The results of the study provide a possible explanation for how drugs for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) change our brain activity. The ability to unlearn fear is often impaired in sufferers, making therapies more difficult. The study was published in the journal “Translational Psychiatry” on 19 November 2022.

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