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Anxiety Disorders

The central therapeutic challenge in anxiety disorders lies in developing treatments that effectively restore balance to dysregulated fear circuits and neurotransmitter systems. Protheragen boasts a talented team of researchers and scientists with extensive expertise in anxiety disorders. They are deeply committed to pioneering the development of cutting-edge therapies for anxiety disorders, aiming to address unmet therapeutic needs and advance targeted therapeutics in the field.

Overview of Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders are a group of prevalent mental health conditions characterized by excessive, persistent fear and anxiety that significantly impair daily functioning, with a lifetime prevalence estimated at approximately 25-30% globally. Core features include psychological symptoms such as uncontrollable worry, hypervigilance, and catastrophic thinking, accompanied by somatic manifestations like tachycardia, diaphoresis, tremors, and gastrointestinal distress due to autonomic nervous system hyperactivity. Major subtypes include generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobias, often presenting with high comorbidity rates with depression and other psychiatric conditions.

Fig.1 Neuroinflammation-related brain changes as potential neural biomarkers for anxiety disorders. (Won E, Kim Y K., 2020)

Pathogenesis of Anxiety Disorders

The pathogenesis of anxiety disorders primarily stems from a complex interaction between genetic predisposition, involving polygenic risk variants affecting neuromodulatory systems, and environmental stressors that collectively disrupt neural circuit function. Core mechanisms include dysregulation of the amygdala-prefrontal cortex-hippocampus circuit, resulting in impaired threat assessment and fear extinction, accompanied by neurochemical imbalances in serotonin, norepinephrine, GABA, and glucocorticoid signaling pathways.

Inflammation in fear and anxiety disorders: mechanisms and consequences. Fig.2 Inflammation in fear- and anxiety-based disorders: mechanisms and consequences. (Michopoulos V, et al., 2017)

Therapeutic Development for Anxiety Disorders

Drug Names	Mechanism of Action	Targets	Research Phase
Escitalopram	Functions as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor to increase synaptic serotonin availability.	Serotonin transporter (SERT)	Approved
Fluoxetine	Acts as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor to enhance serotonergic neurotransmission.	Serotonin transporter (SERT)	Approved
Sertraline	Selectively blocks serotonin reuptake to potentiate serotonin signaling in synaptic clefts.	Serotonin transporter (SERT)	Approved

Disclaimer: Protheragen focuses on providing preclinical research services. This table is for information exchange purposes only. This table is not a treatment plan recommendation. For guidance on treatment options, please visit a regular hospital.

Our Services

Protheragen specializes in providing cutting-edge diagnostic and therapeutic development services for rare neuropsychiatric diseases, including anxiety disorders. We focus on creating advanced disease models to better understand anxiety disorder pathogenesis, and we utilize innovative blood-brain barrier (BBB) models to enhance the delivery and efficacy of therapeutic compounds. Through our comprehensive approach, we aim to accelerate the development of accurate diagnostic kits and effective treatments tailored to anxiety disorders.

Therapeutic Development Services

By Molecule Types

By Mechanism of Action

Disease Model Development Services

In Vitro Model Development
Patient-Derived Cell Model Development Neuronal Cell Model Development Glial Cell Model Development	Co-Culture Model Development Brain Organoid Development Spinal Cord Organoid Development
Microfluidic Model Development
Neurovascular Unit (NVU) Model Development Axon Degeneration Model Development Neuromuscular Junction (NMJ) Model Development	Neuroinflammation Model Development Synaptic Plasticity Model Development Organoid-on-a-Chip Model Development
Animal Model Development
Chronic Emotional Stress (CCS) Model: This mouse model utilizes repeated non-physical social threat (e.g., an aggressor behind a barrier) to induce a comorbid phenotype of anxiety and pathological aggression, primarily characterized in males, with high translational value for studying complex neuropsychiatric comorbidities. Chronic Colitis-Induced Anxiety Model: This rat model employs chemical induction of chronic colon inflammation to study gut-brain axis dysfunction, resulting in robust anxiety-like behaviors alongside motor deficits and depression-like symptoms, with documented sex-specific responses to therapeutic intervention.

Focusing on preclinical research, Protheragen offers comprehensive pharmacodynamic (PD), pharmacokinetic (PK), and toxicology study services to support the development and regulatory approval of potential therapies. If you are interested in our services, please feel free to contact us for more details and quotation information of related services.

References

Won E, Kim Y K. Neuroinflammation-associated alterations of the brain as potential neural biomarkers in anxiety disorders[J]. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2020, 21(18): 6546.
Michopoulos V, Powers A, Gillespie C F, et al. Inflammation in fear-and anxiety-based disorders: PTSD, GAD, and beyond[J]. Neuropsychopharmacology, 2017, 42(1): 254-270.

For research use only. Not intended for any clinical use.