Curing fear in mice ..the researchers placed a beaker containing a fox-odor chemical in the mouse enclosure. Normal mice froze when they smelled the chemical and avoided the beaker. In contrast, mice lacking the ASIC1a protein showed a much-reduced freezing response and even climbed onto the beaker.... In a second set of experiments, the team also showed that chemically inhibiting the ASIC1a protein in normal mice (using a component of tarantula venom) similarly blunted the innate fear response.
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