# Imaging Dynamics in Anxiogenic Serotonin Circuitry

> **NIH NIH F32** · MAX PLANCK FLORIDA CORPORATION · 2024 · $78,772

## Abstract

Contact PD/PI: Wright, Emily Clarissa
PROJECT SUMMARY
Anxiety disorders are the most commonly diagnosed mental illnesses; national prevalence data indicate that
about 20% of adults in the US will be diagnosed. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are one of the
most widely used treatments, yet 40% of patients do not respond. Despite decades of targeting serotonin, a
consensus on serotonin function and release dynamics is lacking. Consequently, how SSRI administration
modulates fine temporal dynamics of serotonin in relation to anxiety is largely unknown. Pharmacological
approaches, microdialysis, and chemogenetic manipulations have produced key insights, but none provide
millisecond resolution for serotonin release and correlates of specific reactions and behaviors until recently,
due to the development of two sensitive genetically encoded serotonin sensors (sLight and iSeroSnFR). I will
these sensors combined with fiber-photometry to optically measure behaviorally driven serotonin release in an
anxiogenic serotonin circuit with high temporal and spatial resolution.
The series of experiments outlined in this proposal are significant because they will: Aim 1) rigorously
demonstrate the in vivo utility of serotonin sensors in dissecting anxiety circuit, providing end users important
protocols and guidelines for fast technological implementation; Aim2) map dynamics of serotonin release in
anxiogenic circuits to anxiety behavior, and discover how activity in this circuit is impacted in anxious animals
and determine the mechanistic impacts of acute vs. chronic SSRI administration on anxiogenic serotonin
signaling; Aim 3) determine how testosterone impacts the efficacy of SSRI treatment.
Project Summary/Abstract Page 6

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10906493
- **Project number:** 7F32MH125597-03
- **Recipient organization:** MAX PLANCK FLORIDA CORPORATION
- **Principal Investigator:** Emily Clarissa Wright
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $78,772
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2023-12-01 → 2024-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10906493

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10906493, Imaging Dynamics in Anxiogenic Serotonin Circuitry (7F32MH125597-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10906493. Licensed CC0.

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