scholarly journals Inhibitory Corticotropin-Releasing Factor Neurons in the Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex Promote Stress-Resilient Behavior in Male Rodents

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Maria Vidrascu ◽  
Madeline Mae Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Corticotropin Releasing Factor ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Adverse Experiences ◽  
Important Regulator ◽  
Response To Stress ◽  
Stress Response System ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Resilient Behavior

Adaptive behavior in response to adverse experiences facilitates faster recovery and less time spent engaging in maladaptive behaviors that contribute to psychopathology, including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Dysregulation of activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) has been implicated in these disorders, as well as in diminished cognitive flexibility, with stress further exacerbating these negative effects. Corticotropin-releasing factor is an important regulator of the stress-response system and may have a differential involvement in individuals who are especially susceptible to negative stress-related outcomes. A recent study by Chen et al. (Neuron 106: 301-315, 2020) has identified a novel subtype of GABAergic CRF interneurons in the dorsomedial PFC that, upon activation, can promote active responses and resilient behavior in response to stress.

Intergenerational effects of maternal post-traumatic stress disorder on offspring epigenetic patterns and cortisol levels

Epigenomics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Line Hjort ◽  
Feride Rushiti ◽  
Shr-Jie Wang ◽  
Peter Fransquet ◽  
Sebahate P Krasniqi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Significance Levels ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Cortisol Levels ◽  
Epigenetic Patterns

Aim: To investigate the association between maternal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during pregnancy and offspring DNA methylation and cortisol levels. Materials & methods: Blood genome-wide DNA methylation and cortisol was measured in the youngest child of 117 women who experienced sexual violence/torture during the Kosovo war. Results: Seventy-two percent of women had PTSD symptoms during pregnancy. Their children had higher cortisol levels and differential methylation at candidate genes ( NR3C1, HTR3A and BNDF) . No methylation differences reached epigenome-wide corrected significance levels. Conclusion: Identifying the biological processes whereby the negative effects of trauma are passed across generations and defining groups at high risk is a key step to breaking the intergenerational transmission of the effects of mental disorders.

scholarly journals The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 44-54
Author(s):  
Julia Budzyńska ◽  
Magdalena Leśniewska ◽  
Ilona Kozioł ◽  
Joanna Milanowska
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Past Infection ◽  
Global Epidemic ◽  
Response To Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Impact

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of a coronavirus pandemic in 2019 posed a serious threat to the global population. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has not only been a public health emergency, but has also affected mental health worldwide. Patients were exposed to a number of significant stressors during COVID-19 infection by which it appears that it may have had a major impact on mental health. Little is known about changes in levels of psychological affect, stress, anxiety and depression during this pandemic.AIM OF THE STUDY: The purpose of this study was to analyze the most recent available literature on the association of pandemic COVID-19 with psychiatric disorders occurring both as a result of past infection and in response to stress associated with the new situation of a global epidemic of Sars-CoV-2 virus.RESULTS: The psychological effects of the epidemic are clearly noticeable. The study identified groups particularly vulnerable to developing symptoms of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Risk factors were also identified in people working in health care as having direct contact with the effects of infection with the new virus.SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: Key elements of preventing psychological impact are the creation of a mental health organization. Another important task for governments is to create the conditions for economic security, as financial problems or job losses can also be the cause of mental crises.

Reactions to stressful experiences

2017 ◽  
pp. 135-160
Author(s):  
Paul Harrison ◽  
Philip Cowen ◽  
Tom Burns ◽  
Mina Fazel
Keyword(s):  
Childhood Abuse ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Stress Reactions ◽  
Psychological Consequences ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Response To Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Stressful Experiences ◽  
Refugee Experience ◽  
Coping Patterns

‘Reactions to stressful experiences’ covers emotional and physiological elements of the response to stress and the way in which maladaptive coping patterns and inappropriate defence mechanisms can lead to clinical disorders. Stress reactions are often short-lived and respond to support from friends and family. However, particularly severe stresses can lead to the condition of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an important source of morbidity and disability, whose clinical features, psychology, neurobiology, and treatment are described in detail. The chapter also covers adjustment to threatening and traumatic life events, such as childhood abuse, sexual assault in women, the refugee experience, serious physical illness, and bereavement. These events can produce various kinds of adverse psychological consequences over the lifespan, and the chapter shows how these psychiatric sequelae can be recognized, theoretically understood, and best managed according to current evidence-based practice.

Computer-Based Perspective Broadening Support for Appraisal Training

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 86-108
Author(s):  
Ursula M. Beer ◽  
Mark A. Neerincx ◽  
Nexhmedin Morina ◽  
Willem-Paul Brinkman
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Event ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Student Sample ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Technological Support ◽  
Multiple Outcome ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Effect Of The Support

Post-traumatic stress affects millions of people worldwide. Appraisal training is an intervention that has been used to decrease the negative effects of a traumatic event. In two studies, the acceptance and effects of technology in supporting appraisal was studied. Study 1, a descriptive study, examined the response to and acceptance of a workshop on perspective broadening with technological support among soldiers and firefighters. Results revealed that both groups evaluated the training as useful and feasible, and both favoured the full version of the tool. Study 2 investigated the effect of the support tool among a student sample in comparison to the paper-based training. Participants followed the training individually. Comparisons between the two groups revealed no significant differences on multiple outcome measures. Behaviour observed during the training suggests that shorter sessions might prove more effective. The findings indicate acceptance of the technology supported training but gives no indication that the effects of the training are improved by technological support.

Prefrontal cortex rTMS reverses behavioral impairments and differentially activates c-Fos in a mouse model of post-traumatic stress disorder

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Legrand ◽  
Romain Troubat ◽  
Bruno Brizard ◽  
Anne-Marie Le Guisquet ◽  
Catherine Belzung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Mouse Model ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Behavioral Impairments

The Role of Glucocorticoids in the (Mal)adaptive Response to Traumatic Experience

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hagit Cohen ◽  
Joseph Zohar
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Biological Data ◽  
The Body ◽  
Traumatic Experience ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Memory Integration ◽  
Response To Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Basic Facts

Glucocorticoids (GCs) play a major role in orchestrating the complex physiological and behavioral reactions essential for the maintenance of homeostasis. These compounds enable the organism to prepare for, respond to, and cope with the acute demands of physical and emotional stressors and enable a faster recovery with passage of the threat. A timely and an appropriate GC release commensurate with stressor severity enables the body to properly contain stress responses so as to promote recovery by rapidly restoring homeostasis. Inadequate GC release following stress not only delays recovery by disrupting biological homeostasis but can also interfere with the processing or interpretation of stressful information that results in long-term disruptions in memory integration. A salient example of such an impaired post-traumatic process is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The findings from recent animal models and translational and clinical neuroendocrine studies summarized in this chapter provide insights shedding light on the apparently contradictory studies of the HPA-axis response to stress. Also included is a review of the basic facts about PTSD and biological data.

scholarly journals The Role of Central Amygdala Corticotropin-Releasing Factor in Predator Odor Stress-Induced Avoidance Behavior and Escalated Alcohol Drinking in Rats

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus M. Weera ◽  
Allyson L. Schreiber ◽  
Elizabeth M. Avegno ◽  
Nicholas W. Gilpin
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Drinking ◽  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Conditioned Avoidance ◽  
Corticotropin Releasing Factor ◽  
Predator Odor ◽  
Central Amygdala ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Conditioned Place Avoidance ◽  
Place Avoidance ◽  
Post Traumatic

ABSTRACTPost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by avoidance of trauma-associated stimuli and amygdala hyperreactivity, and is highly co-morbid with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Our lab uses a predator odor (bobcat urine) stress model that produces conditioned avoidance of an odor-paired context in a subset of rats, mirroring avoidance symptoms that manifest in some but not all humans exposed to trauma. We previously showed that after predator odor stress, Avoiders exhibit escalated alcohol drinking, higher aversion-resistant operant alcohol responding, hyperalgesia, and greater anxiety-like behavior compared to unstressed Controls. We also showed that systemic antagonism of corticotropin-releasing factor-1 receptors (CRFR1) reduced escalation of alcohol drinking in rats not indexed for avoidance, that corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) infusions into the central amygdala (CeA) produced conditioned place avoidance in stress-naïve rats, and that intra-CeA infusion of a CRFR1 antagonist reduced hyperalgesia in Avoiders. Here, we show that avoidance behavior is persistent after repeated predator odor exposure and is resistant to extinction. In addition, Avoiders showed lower weight gain than Controls after predator odor re-exposure. In the brain, higher avoidance was correlated with higher number of c-Fos+ cells and CRF immunoreactivity in the CeA. Finally, we show that intra-CeA CRFR1 antagonism reversed post-stress escalation of alcohol drinking and reduced avoidance behavior in Avoiders. Collectively, these findings suggest that elucidation of the mechanisms by which CRFR1-gated CeA circuits regulate avoidance behavior and alcohol drinking may lead to better understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying co-morbid PTSD and AUD.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document