Author(s): Sousa, Nuno ; Almeida, O. F. X.
Date: 2012
Persistent ID: https://hdl.handle.net/1822/21091
Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
Project/scholarship: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/259772/EU; info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/5876-PPCDTI/111814/PT ; info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/238665/EU;
Subject(s): Stress; Cognition; Emotion; Plasticity; Glucocorticoids; Science & Technology
We would like to thank Antonio Pinheiro, Hugo Almeida, and José Miguel Soares for help with the illustrations. We also thank all past and present members of our laboratories for stimulating discussions.
Maladaptive responses to stress and the associated hypersecretion of glucocorticoids cause psychopathologies ranging from hyperemotional states and mood dysfunction to cognitive impairments. Research in both humans and animal models has begun to identify morphological correlates of these functional changes. These include dendritic and synaptic reorganization, glial remodeling, and altered cell fate in cortical and subcortical structures. The emerging view is that stress induces a disconnection syndrome’ whereby the transmission and integration of information that are critical for orchestrating appropriate physiological and behavioral responses are perturbed. High-resolution spatiotemporal mapping of the complete neural circuitry and identification of the cellular processes impacted by stress will help to advance discovery of strategies to reduce or reverse the burden of stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders.
Work in our laboratories was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service - Acções Luso-Alemãs, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (PTDC/SAUNSC/ 111814/2009), and European Union FP7 (SwitchBox Project, Contract 259772; Neuroendocrine Immune Networks in Ageing Scientific Network, Contract 238665).
