Pharmacology of Anxiety or Pharmacology of Elevated Plus Maze?

A recent report by DeGroot et al. ( 1 DeGroot S.R. Zhao-Shea R. Chung L. Klenowski P.M. Sun F. Molas S. et al. Midbrain dopamine controls anxiety-like behavior by engaging unique interpeduncular nucleus microcircuitry. Biol Psychiatry. 2020; 88: 855-866 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (8) Google Scholar ) described how ventral tegmental area dopamine engages dopamine D1 receptor–expressing neurons in the caudal interpeduncular nucleus that innervate ventral neuronal populations of this nucleus, thereby amplifying the ventral tegmental area signal to modulate certain aspects of behavior in mice in the commonly used elevated plus maze and open field tests. Reported experiments employed cutting-edge technologies to deliver a convincing set of results.