# Disruption in the network communication of safety in epilepsy with comorbid anxiety

> **NIH NIH R01** · TUFTS UNIVERSITY BOSTON · 2021 · $392,933

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Epilepsy is highly comorbid with anxiety (Gaitatzis, 2005), which negatively impacts the quality of life of
these patients (Johnson, 2004). To-date, we have little knowledge of the mechanisms underlying this
comorbidity. Recent studies provide strong evidence for a role of network communciation between the
basolateral amygdala (BLA) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in mediating the expression of fear and
anxiety (Stujenske et al., 2014;Felix-Ortiz et al., 2016) (for review see (Tovote et al., 2015)). A recent
collaborative effort between the Maguire and Reijmers' labs demonstrates a role for parvalbumin (PV)
interneurons in mediating the transition between the network communication of fear and the behavioral
expression of fear (Davis, 2017). Specifically, we demonstrate that silencing PV interneurons in the BLA
increase the reactivation of fear neurons following extinction and are required to suppress the network
communication of fear, findings which are correlated with an increase in the behavioral expression of fear.
These studies have largely focused on transitions between states of safety and states of fear and anxiety
under physiological conditions. Few studies have investigated how this neural circuit communication may
become dysregulation or corrupted under pathological conditions. Here we propose to investigate whether
dysregulation in the network communication of anxiety may play a role in comorbid anxiety in epilepsy. Our
preliminary data demonstrates a loss of PV interneurons in the BLA of chronically epileptic mice which we
hypothesize facilitates the reactivation of anxiety neurons, promoting the network communication and the
behavior expression of anxiety.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10130641
- **Project number:** 5R01NS105628-03
- **Recipient organization:** TUFTS UNIVERSITY BOSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Jamie Lynn Maguire
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $392,933
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-15 → 2023-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10130641

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10130641, Disruption in the network communication of safety in epilepsy with comorbid anxiety (5R01NS105628-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10130641. Licensed CC0.

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