12 documents found, page 1 of 2
Neonatal testosterone voids sexually differentiated microglia morphology and be...
Simões-Henriques, Carla Filipa; Rodrigues-Neves, A. Catarina; Sousa, Fábio J.; Gaspar, Rita; Almeida, Inês; Baptista, Filipa I.The involvement of immunity in psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, is typified by the morphologic adaptation of microglia, immune cells of the brain, to anxiogenic stimuli. We previously reported sexually differentiated microglia morphology in adult rodents, in brain locations implicated in anxiety, including the pre-frontal cortex. These physiologic differences likely drive sex-dependent patterns of microg...
The Duration of Stress Determines Sex Specificities in the Vulnerability to Dep...
Gaspar, Rita; Soares-Cunha, Carina; Domingues, Ana Verónica; Coimbra, Bárbara; Baptista, Filipa; Pinto, Luísa; Ambrósio, António; Rodrigues, Ana-JoãoStress exposure has been shown to induce a variety of molecular and functional alterations associated with anxiety and depression. Some studies suggest that microglia, the immune cells of the brain, play a significant role in determining neuronal and behavioral responses to chronic stress and also contribute to the development of stress-related psychopathologies. However, little is known about the impact of the...
Resilience to stress and sex-specific remodeling of microglia and neuronal morp...
Gaspar, Rita; Soares-Cunha, Carina; Domingues, Ana Verónica; Coimbra, Bárbara; Baptista, Filipa I.; Pinto, Luísa; Ambrósio, António; Rodrigues, Ana JoãoPrenatal exposure to stress or glucocorticoids (GC) is associated with the appearance of psychiatric diseases later in life. Microglia, the immune cells of the brain, are altered in stress-related disorders. Synthetic GC such as dexamethasone (DEX) are commonly prescribed in case of preterm risk labour in order to promote fetal lung maturation. Recently, we reported long-lasting differences in microglia morphol...
Region-specific control of microglia by adenosine A2A receptors: uncoupling anx...
Duarte, Joana Mendes; Gaspar, Rita; Caetano, Liliana; Patrício, Patrícia; Cunha, Carina Isabel Soares; Pinheiro, António Maria Restolho MateusEpidemiologic studies have provided compelling evidence that prenatal stress, through excessive maternal glucocorticoids exposure, is associated with psychiatric disorders later in life. We have recently reported that anxiety associated with prenatal exposure to dexamethasone (DEX, a synthetic glucocorticoid) correlates with a gender-specific remodeling of microglia in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a cor...
Adenosine A2A Receptor Blockade Modulates Glucocorticoid-Induced Morphological ...
Pinheiro, Helena; Gaspar, Rita; Baptista, Filipa; Fontes-Ribeiro, Carlos A.; Ambrósio, Francisco; Gomes, Catarina A.The exposure to supra-physiological levels of glucocorticoids in prenatal life can lead to a long-term impact in brain cytoarchitecture, increasing the susceptibility to neuropsychiatric disorders. Dexamethasone, an exogenous glucocorticoid widely used in pregnant women in risk of preterm delivery, is associated with higher rates of neuropsychiatric conditions throughout life of the descendants. In animal model...
Caffeine reverts memory but not mood impairment in a depression-prone mouse str...
Machado, Nuno J.; Simoes, Ana Patricia; Silva, Henrique B.; Ardais, Ana Paula; Kaster, Manuella P.; Garcao, Pedro; Rodrigues, Diana I.Caffeine prophylactically prevents mood and memory impairments through adenosine A(2A) receptor (A(2A)R) antagonism. A(2A)R antagonists also therapeutically revert mood and memory impairments, but it is not known if caffeine is also therapeutically or only prophylactically effective. Since depression is accompanied by mood and memory alterations, we now explored if chronic (4 weeks) caffeine consumption (0.3 g/...
Editorial: Glial Plasticity in Depression
Oliveira, João F.; Gomes, Catarina A.; Vaz, Sandra H.; Sousa, Nuno; Pinto, LuísaJO and LPreceived fellowships from the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)and their work is funded by FCT (SFRH/BD/101298/2014 to JO and IF/01079/2014 to LP) and Bial Foundation (207/14 for JO and 427/14 for LP) projects. SVis supported by FCT(SFRH/BPD/81627/2011).CG is supported by FCT(SFRH/BPD/63013/2009).This work wasco-funded by the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS),and Northern Por...
Glial plasticity in depression
Oliveira, João F.; Gomes, Catarina A.; Vaz, Sandra H.; Sousa, Nuno; Pinto, LuisaDepression is a highly prevalent disorder that poses a significant social burden to society. Despite continued advances toward the understanding of the pathophysiology of this disease, its molecular/cellular underpinnings remain elusive, which may be at the basis of the lack of effective treatment strategies. Among the different lines of research, recent literature suggests that impaired neuron and glial plasti...
Depression as a Glial-Based Synaptic Dysfunction
Rial, Daniel; Lemos, Cristina; Pinheiro, Helena; Duarte, Joana M.; Gonçalves, Francisco Q.; Real, Joana I.; Prediger, Rui D.; Gonçalves, NélioRecent studies combining pharmacological, behavioral, electrophysiological and molecular approaches indicate that depression results from maladaptive neuroplastic processes occurring in defined frontolimbic circuits responsible for emotional processing such as the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala and ventral striatum. However, the exact mechanisms controlling synaptic plasticity that are disrupted to tr...
Role of microglia adenosine A(2A) receptors in retinal and brain neurodegenerat...
Santiago, Ana R.; Baptista, Filipa I.; Santos, Paulo; Cristovão, Gonçalo; Ambrósio, A. Francisco; Cunha, Rodrigo A.; Gomes, Catarina A.Neuroinflammation mediated by microglial cells in the brain has been commonly associated with neurodegenerative diseases. Whether this microglia-mediated neuroinflammation is cause or consequence of neurodegeneration is still a matter of controversy. However, it is unequivocal that chronic neuroinflammation plays a role in disease progression and halting that process represents a potential therapeutic strategy....