{"id":539354,"date":"2026-03-22T22:45:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T22:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/539354\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T22:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T22:45:13","slug":"israeli-us-researchers-find-brains-signals-that-make-ocd-behaviors-hard-to-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/539354\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli, US researchers find brain’s signals that make OCD behaviors hard to stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a groundbreaking study, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and SUNY Stony Brook University said they found that one chemical signaling system in the brain can effectively \u201ctake the wheel\u201d of another.<\/p>\n

The peer-reviewed findings offer a new perspective on the origins of chemical imbalances that underlie numerous debilitating neurological and psychiatric disorders such as Parkinson\u2019s disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, and depression.<\/p>\n

The research team, led by Prof. Joshua Goldberg of Hebrew University and Stony Brook\u2019s Prof. Joshua Plotkin, focused on the brain region central to learning and moving, the dorsal striatum, and the way the coordination between cells may go into overdrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompulsions, such as repetitive checking or washing, are thought to arise from abnormal activity in circuits of the dorsal striatum that control habitual behaviors,\u201d said Goldberg, speaking to The Times of Israel.<\/p>\n

Using AI and cutting-edge imaging techniques in pre-clinical trials on mice in the laboratory, the team explored the effect of a brain chemical called acetylcholine, which can directly trigger the release of serotonin, a neurotransmitter long linked to mood and psychiatric disorders.<\/p>\n

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The findings, recently published in Nature Communications<\/a>, could help explain why certain behaviors become \u201cso difficult to stop\u201d in conditions such as OCD, the researchers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstanding these interactions may help us better understand the circuit dysfunction underlying these disorders and could eventually point toward new ways of treating them,\u201d Goldberg said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tThe image shows a portion of the striatum. The red structures are neurons that release acetylcholine, which were experimentally made to express the Optogenetic protein \u201cchannelrhodopsin-2\u201d (allowing them to be activated by light). Green is a genetic sensor that allows the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Stony Brook University researchers to use 2-photon imaging, a cutting-edge microscope technique, to visualize serotonin release. (Courtesy\/Joshua Plotkin)<\/p>\n

A psychiatric disease affecting people worldwide<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Times of Israel, Plotkin said that OCD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in the world, affecting up to three percent of the global population.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe disorder doesn\u2019t really discriminate between nationality, race, or gender,\u201d Plotkin said.<\/p>\n

In Israel, a study<\/a> found direct evidence that acute trauma can also trigger or worsen OCD symptoms.<\/p>\n

Four to six months after witnessing the bloody October 7, 2023, Hamas assault, nearly 40 percent of survivors exposed to the violence met the criteria for probable OCD, compared to just seven percent of a matched control group elsewhere in Israel.<\/p>\n

The symptoms included compulsive cleaning, ordering, and checking locks, windows, and doors, often tied to fears of invasion or safety.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPictures of victims hang on the outer wall of a Kibbutz Nir Oz home gutted in the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, as seen in the Gaza border community on October 23, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

The brain decides which action is appropriate<\/p>\n

Plotkin\u2019s lab explores how the brain carries on with the \u201cdaunting task of sorting through a plethora of potential actions that can be performed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of these actions are useful and appropriate, Plotkin said, while others are inappropriate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe inability to properly do this is at the crux of many neurological disorders, perhaps most notably, OCD,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile many scientists focus on genes or molecules, we focus on how the activity of brain circuits changes in disease,\u201d said Goldberg.<\/p>\n

The two scientists have been friends since 2009, when they worked in the same lab at Northwestern University. They have had a joint research grant since 2017.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIllustrative image of a brain (iStock)<\/p>\n

The link between brain systems<\/p>\n

The part of the brain most intimately associated with habit learning and action selection is the basal ganglia.<\/p>\n

The striatum acts as the main intake center for the basal ganglia. It is in charge of receiving massive amounts of information from widely diverse parts of the brain. The striatum sorts all this information like a processing center before deciding on movements or actions.<\/p>\n

Within this system is acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that sends signals between nerve cells.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor about 30 years, neuroscientists have known that a special interaction exists in the brain between the acetylcholine system and the dopamine system,\u201d Goldberg said. \u201cDopamine is a signaling chemical that plays a central role in reward and learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interaction was written about in hints in scientific literature, or what Plotkin described as \u201clittle breadcrumbs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time these breadcrumbs dropped, we didn\u2019t really know,\u201d he said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have enough information to make a connection. So this is really a credit to Josh Goldberg\u2019s lab. He really connected the dots, and then we pursued it rigorously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tProf. Joshua Goldberg of Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Prof. Joshua Plotkin of Stony Brook University tour Masada in 2017. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

The study followed the \u201cclassic path of scientific discovery,\u201d Goldberg explained. The researchers started with a hypothesis based on these earlier findings and tested it directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat does not always happen in science,\u201d he said. \u201cMany discoveries occur more accidentally.\u201d<\/p>\n

The link between the acetylcholine and dopamine systems<\/p>\n

In their research, the team used a technology called optogenetics, which allowed the scientists to control specific brain cells using flashes of light.<\/p>\n

When they activated the cells that released acetylcholine, the nearby serotonin fibers responded almost instantly by releasing their own chemical signals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis showed that acetylcholine does not just talk to serotonin,\u201d Plotkin said. \u201cIt can actually take the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the researchers looked at brain states linked to OCD, they found the system running in overdrive.<\/p>\n

The acetylcholine cells were overactive, which forced a massive surge of serotonin. This suggests that the symptoms of OCD might not just be about having too much of one chemical, but rather a breakdown in the brain\u2019s coordination system.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat our work suggests is that in these pre-clinical models of OCD behaviors, acetylcholine is elevated,\u201d Plotkin said. \u201cIt\u2019s very, very high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldberg explained that \u201cthe real surprise\u201d was discovering the interaction between acetylcholine and serotonin in the part of the brain where serotonin input is relatively sparse.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet this may play an important role in disorders of compulsive behavior,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The study is \u201cquite novel,\u201d said Jun Ding, a neurology professor in Stanford University\u2019s neurosurgery department. Ding was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n

He said the research discovered that specific neurons using acetylcholine can directly trigger the release of serotonin, a key chemical involved in mood and behavior.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition, it showed that this interaction becomes much stronger in a mouse model of OCD,\u201d Ding said.<\/p>\n

The interaction opens \u201cthe door to many new questions about how these circuits function and malfunction,\u201d Goldberg said.<\/p>\n

Plotkin\u2019s lab has already started working with other scientists at Stony Brook on some of the groundwork to begin clinical trials on acetylcholine\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, treatment options for OCD, along with nearly all psychiatric disorders, are incomplete,\u201d Plotkin said. \u201cCurrent pharmacological treatments for OCD only benefit a fraction of patients, and cure even fewer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBetter targets around which to develop treatments are desperately needed, and these insights offer important mechanistic clues in the search for such targets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a groundbreaking study, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and SUNY Stony Brook University said they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97],"class_list":{"0":"post-539354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}