A recent study indicates that domestic dogs experiencing anxiety exhibit neurological irregularities that reflect those seen in humans dealing with mental health disorders. These insights could be pivotal for addressing emotional disorders in dogs and also provide a deeper understanding of neurological aspects related to anxiety in humans.
The researchers performed non-invasive functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans on 38 pet dogs. Simultaneously, the dog owners filled out the Canine Behavioral Assessment & Research Questionnaire to aid the researchers in evaluating each dog’s anxiety level.
Out of the total, 13 dogs were identified as anxious, while the rest, 25, were deemed healthy. The findings were published in the PLOS ONE journal.
Anxiety Linked to Dysfunctions in Specific Brain Regions Anxious dogs demonstrated enhanced neural connections between the amygdala and other areas of the brain’s anxiety network.
The researchers noted increased connectivity between the amygdala-hippocampus, amygdala-midbrain, amygdala-thalamus, frontal lobe-hippocampus, frontal lobe-thalamus, and hippocampus-thalamus, all integral to the anxiety circuit, as per IFL Science.
This is noteworthy as the amygdala and hippocampus are linked with memory, arousal, empathy, and fear in both dogs and humans.
The researchers explained that “malfunctions in these regions can result in anxiety symptoms such as heightened fear, diminished excitability, decreased trainability, and so forth.”
Neurological Parallels Between Humans and Dogs Upon analyzing brain activity patterns associated with specific traits like aggression, fear, and trainability, the researchers discovered intriguing similarities between aggressive dogs and anxious humans. For instance, excessive attachment or attention-seeking behavior correlated with modified connectivity within the thalamus, aligning with prior human anxiety studies.
Moreover, dogs exhibiting pronounced aggression towards other dogs showed alterations in the frontal lobe, aligning with past research associating malfunctions in this brain region with depression and anxiety symptoms in humans.
Anxiety in Species with Larger Cortices Study author Yangfeng Xu stated that “the examination of the anxious dog’s brain forms the foundation for our future research. We aim to employ transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to treat anxious dogs in the future.”
He emphasized that the study’s outcomes are pertinent to the treatment of patients with anxiety disorders in both human and veterinary medicine.
While most research in this field involves rodents, studying dogs has enabled researchers to observe how anxiety presents itself in species with larger cortices.
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