title: Future directions in anxiety research.
abstract: More than 3.5 million patients suffer from anxiety in the United States of America alone. While our knowledge of the basic biological mechanisms of anxiety is very poor, we have a good understanding of the mechanism of action of various anxiolytic drugs at the molecular level. Their mechanism of action often relates to the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA and it might be speculated that GABA has a role in anxiety. Future research will concentrate on designing better anxiolytic drugs, based for example on the discovery of partial benzodiazepine receptor agonists, and also on GABA uptake inhibitors as enhancers of GABAergic function. Furthermore, scientific studies will focus on a search for putative biological defects related to anxiety, such as defects in the GABA/benzodiazepine receptor chloride channel complex.
mesh_terms: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D011600:Psychopharmacology / Q000639:trends*
chemical_list: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents