Scientists have found a switch in the brain that appears to control anxiety and wakefulness. In tests on rodents, the University of California team found a protein called NPS was active in areas of the brain governing arousal and anxiety. This switch could be a target for drugs to treat sleep and anxiety disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, they hope. The findings appear in the journal Neuron. Scientists had recently discovered the brain protein neuropeptide S (NPS), but had not fully explored its actions.
