The Amygdala And Emotionally-mediated Sudden Cutaneous Vasoconstriction In Rats
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$461,788.00
Summary
Discovering how the brain organizes our emotional life is important for understanding mental illness. In rats, blood flow to the skin falls when the animal detects a possibly dangerous event. Rats go pale with fright , just as humans do. The falls in blood flow are inhibited by drugs used to treat people with schizophrenia. The grant investigates whether the amygdala is an important brain centre controlling the skin blood vessels, and whether anti-schizophrenia drugs act in the amygdala.