Elevation of Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 Function in the Lateral Habenula Mediates Aversive Behaviors in Alcohol-withdrawn Rats.

What We Already Know About This Topic: Chronic alcohol use and withdrawal leads to increased pain perception, anxiety, and depression. These aberrant behaviors are accompanied by increased excitatory glutamatergic transmission to, and activity of, the lateral habenula neurons.Vanilloid type 1, or TRPV1, channels are expressed in the habenula and they facilitate glutamatergic transmission.

Dysfunction in amygdala-prefrontal plasticity and extinction-resistant avoidance: A model for anxiety disorder vulnerability.

Individuals exhibiting an anxiety disorder are believed to possess an innate vulnerability that makes them susceptible to the disorder. Anxiety disorders are also associated with abnormalities in the interconnected brain regions of the amygdala and prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, the link between anxiety vulnerability and amygdala-PFC dysfunction is currently unclear.