The phenomenon in which psychological stress and emotions affect the regulation of the body and cause various physical reactions is called "mental-body correlation".For example, when psychological stress is applied, the sympathetic nervous system becomes active, so that the heart beats faster, and blood pressure and body temperature also rise.Stress-related illnesses such as panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and psychogenic fever are also disorders that develop based on psychosomatic correlation.

　However, it was a big mystery how the signals of the "mind" such as psychological stress and emotions act on the mechanism that regulates the "body" in the brain.Therefore, the researchers searched for a neural transmission path that inputs psychological stress signals to the hypothalamus, which controls the sympathetic nervous system, through experiments using rats.As a result, we discovered a neural transmission path from the area called DP / DTT (dorsal limb cortex / dorsal scrotum), whose function was unknown, to the hypothalamus in the cerebral cortex that processes stress and emotional signals. ..When psychological stress is received, stress signals are transmitted through this transmission path, and the sympathetic nervous system is activated.

　In rats whose neural pathways were disrupted or suppressed using genetic technology, the stress responses (increased body temperature, pulse, and blood pressure) that normally occur and the escape behavior from stress sources did not occur even when social psychological stress was applied.This suggests that stress signaling from the DP / DTT to the hypothalamus drives the development of sympathetic responses and escape behavior from stress sources.

　This result, which clarified the mechanism that connects the "mind" and "body" in the brain, is expected to contribute to the development of epoch-making treatment methods for stress-related diseases.

Paper information:[Science] A central master driver of psychosocial stress responses in the rat