Fear, anxiety and other threat-elicited states help to protect organisms from harm; but when expressed too intensely or pervasively, they can be crippling¹. Fear and anxiety disorders are common, and existing treatments are inconsistently effective, underscoring the urgency of clarifying the underlying neurobiology¹. We were excited to read Tseng and colleagues’ Review, which highlights evidence that fear and anxiety reflect bi-directional interactions between threat-sensitive brain circuits and the endocrine, immune, gastrointestinal and reproductive systems (Tseng, Y.-T., Schaefke, B., Wei, P. & Wang, L. Defensive responses: behaviour, the brain and the body. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-023-00736-3; 2023)².

恐惧、焦虑和其他威胁引发的状态有助于保护生物体免受伤害;但是当表达得太强烈或太普遍时，它们可能会致残¹。恐惧和焦虑障碍很常见，而现有的治疗方法效果不一致，这凸显了阐明潜在神经生物学的紧迫性¹。我们很高兴阅读了Tseng及其同事的评论，该评论强调了恐惧和焦虑反映了威胁敏感的大脑回路与内分泌、免疫、胃肠道和生殖系统之间的双向相互作用的证据（Tseng， Y.-T.， Schaefke， B.， Wei， P. & Wang， L. 防御反应：行为、大脑和身体。Nat. Rev. 神经科学。https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-023-00736-3;2023）².