“5-HT2a and mGluR2 play opposing roles in regulating anxiety”

CAITLIN MCORMISH; NOELIA WEISSTAUB; ELIZABETH LAMARCA; JAY A GINGRICH

Waikoloa, Hawaii

Conferencia; 50th Annual Meeting of the American College of Psychopharmacology; 2011

American College of Neuropsychopharmacology

Anxiety and depression are among the most common psychiatric conditions, but we still lack a clear understanding of the anatomical and neurochemical circuitry necessary to improve treatment strategies. Clearly, limbic circuitry plays an important role in anxiety and fear, but, more recently the cortex has been shown to be a top-down modulator of anxiety processes, regulating the complex interplay between regions of interest including the hippocampus, and amygdala. We have previously shown that cortical 5-HT2A receptors are involved in anxiety-related behaviors including the light dark box performance, elevated plus maze and open field. We have also shown that in this cortical location, 5-HT2A receptors form heterodimeric complexes with a population of postsynaptic mGlu2 receptors. This heteromeric complex is of critical importance to the mechanism of hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD, however the role played by this heteromeric complex in anxiety states has not been established. Here we investigate the role of the mGlu2 receptor in modulating anxiety states with the goal of identifying the population of these receptors regulating anxiety and further clarifying the nature of the interaction between mGluR2 and 5-HT2AR.