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Electrical stimulation of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis reduces anxiety in a rat model

We recently showed that deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) reduces obsessions, compulsions and associated anxiety in patients suffering from severe, treatment-refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder. Here, we investigated the anxiolytic effects of electric...

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Autores principales: Luyck, K, Tambuyzer, T, Deprez, M, Rangarajan, J, Nuttin, B, Luyten, L
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5438032/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28195571
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/tp.2017.2
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author Luyck, K
Tambuyzer, T
Deprez, M
Rangarajan, J
Nuttin, B
Luyten, L
author_facet Luyck, K
Tambuyzer, T
Deprez, M
Rangarajan, J
Nuttin, B
Luyten, L
author_sort Luyck, K
collection PubMed
description We recently showed that deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) reduces obsessions, compulsions and associated anxiety in patients suffering from severe, treatment-refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder. Here, we investigated the anxiolytic effects of electrical BST stimulation in a rat model of conditioned anxiety, unrelated to obsessions or compulsions. Two sets of stimulation parameters were evaluated. Using fixed settings at 100 Hz, 40 μs and 300 μA (Set A), we observed elevated freezing and startle levels, whereas stimulation at 130 Hz, 220 μs and individually tailored amplitudes (Set B) appeared to reduce freezing. In a follow-up experiment, we evaluated the anxiolytic potential of Set B more extensively, by adding a lesion group and an additional day of stimulation. We found that electrical stimulation significantly reduced freezing, but not to the same extent as lesions. Neither lesions nor stimulation of the BST affected motor behavior or unconditioned anxiety in an open-field test. In summary, electrical stimulation of the BST was successful in reducing contextual anxiety in a rat model, without eliciting unwanted motor effects. Our findings underline the therapeutic potential of DBS in the BST for disorders that are hallmarked by pathological anxiety. Further research will be necessary to assess the translatability of these findings to the clinic.
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spelling pubmed-54380322017-06-01 Electrical stimulation of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis reduces anxiety in a rat model Luyck, K Tambuyzer, T Deprez, M Rangarajan, J Nuttin, B Luyten, L Transl Psychiatry Original Article We recently showed that deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) reduces obsessions, compulsions and associated anxiety in patients suffering from severe, treatment-refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder. Here, we investigated the anxiolytic effects of electrical BST stimulation in a rat model of conditioned anxiety, unrelated to obsessions or compulsions. Two sets of stimulation parameters were evaluated. Using fixed settings at 100 Hz, 40 μs and 300 μA (Set A), we observed elevated freezing and startle levels, whereas stimulation at 130 Hz, 220 μs and individually tailored amplitudes (Set B) appeared to reduce freezing. In a follow-up experiment, we evaluated the anxiolytic potential of Set B more extensively, by adding a lesion group and an additional day of stimulation. We found that electrical stimulation significantly reduced freezing, but not to the same extent as lesions. Neither lesions nor stimulation of the BST affected motor behavior or unconditioned anxiety in an open-field test. In summary, electrical stimulation of the BST was successful in reducing contextual anxiety in a rat model, without eliciting unwanted motor effects. Our findings underline the therapeutic potential of DBS in the BST for disorders that are hallmarked by pathological anxiety. Further research will be necessary to assess the translatability of these findings to the clinic. Nature Publishing Group 2017-02 2017-02-14 /pmc/articles/PMC5438032/ /pubmed/28195571 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/tp.2017.2 Text en Copyright © 2017 The Author(s) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Original Article
Luyck, K
Tambuyzer, T
Deprez, M
Rangarajan, J
Nuttin, B
Luyten, L
Electrical stimulation of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis reduces anxiety in a rat model
title Electrical stimulation of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis reduces anxiety in a rat model
title_full Electrical stimulation of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis reduces anxiety in a rat model
title_fullStr Electrical stimulation of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis reduces anxiety in a rat model
title_full_unstemmed Electrical stimulation of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis reduces anxiety in a rat model
title_short Electrical stimulation of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis reduces anxiety in a rat model
title_sort electrical stimulation of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis reduces anxiety in a rat model
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5438032/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28195571
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/tp.2017.2
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