The Biology of Personality

1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 364-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Mulder
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Clinical Psychiatry ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Low Level ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Extensive Body

Historically, models of personality have generally postulated, or assumed, a link with biology. This century has witnessed a major revision of these ideas with both behavioural and psychoanalytic theorists emphasising life experiences as being largely responsible for behaviour as adults. Challenges to this assumption of the overwhelming importance of life experiences are reviewed. An extensive body of data now exists suggesting that biology contributes significantly to individual variability. This biological contribution occurs at a relatively low level in the central nervous system, best defined as temperament. Further research has suffered from the lack of a cohesive psychobiological model. Cloninger's tridimensional theory of personality is presented as a model which attempts to bridge the gap between theoretical temperamental traits, neurotransmitter function and clinical psychiatry. It is to be hoped that new theoretical models will be formulated which will focus on the importance of temperamental variables in psychiatric disorders.

Neurochemical Systems in the Central Nervous System

2013 ◽  
pp. 12-26
Author(s):  
Ariel Y. Deutch ◽  
Robert H. Roth
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Neurotrophic Factors ◽  
Drugs Of Abuse ◽  
Large Majority ◽  
System P ◽  
Target Neuron ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
The Brain

Chapter 2 describes the neurochemical organization of the brain. It summarizes the diverse types of molecules that neurons in the brain use as neurotransmitters and neurotrophic factors, and how these molecules are synthesized and metabolized. The chapter also presents the array of receptor proteins through which these molecules regulate target neuron functioning and the reuptake proteins that generally terminate the neurotransmitter signal. Today a large majority of all drugs used to treat psychiatric disorders, as well as most drugs of abuse, still have as their initial targets proteins involved directly in neurotransmitter function.

Biological correlates of personality: considerations on the possible usefulness of central nervous system peripheral markers

1993 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Castrogiovanni ◽  
F Pieraccini ◽  
I Maremmani ◽  
D Marazziti
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Human Studies ◽  
Biological Research ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
Biological Substrates ◽  
Peripheral Markers ◽  
Made In

SummaryAlthough a great deal of biological research has been carried out on several psychiatric disorders, it is disappointing to see how little progress has been made in the field of the biology of personality. The authors underline the methodological problems that arise in the investigation of biological substrates of human personality and review both currently available and putative peripheral markers of the central nervous system that might be used in further human studies.

scholarly journals Mitochondria and the central nervous system: searching for a pathophysiological basis of psychiatric disorders

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilio L. Streck ◽  
Cinara L. Gonçalves ◽  
Camila B. Furlanetto ◽  
Giselli Scaini ◽  
Felipe Dal-Pizzol ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
The Central Nervous System

scholarly journals Analyses of temporal regulatory elements of the prosaposin gene in transgenic mice

2003 ◽  
Vol 370 (2) ◽  
pp. 557-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying SUN ◽  
David P. WITTE ◽  
Peng JIN ◽  
Gregory A. GRABOWSKI
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Transgenic Mice ◽  
Peak Level ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Low Level ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Flanking Region ◽  
The Brain

The expression of prosaposin is temporally and spatially regulated at transcriptional and post-translational levels. Transgenic mice with various 5′-flanking deletions of the prosaposin promoter fused to luciferase (LUC) reporters were used to define its temporal regulatory region. LUC expression in the transgenic mice carrying constructs with 234bp (234LUC), 310bp (310LUC) or 2400bp (2400LUC) of the 5′-flanking region was analysed in the central nervous system and eye throughout development. For 310LUC and 2400LUC, low-level LUC activity was maintained until embryonal day 18 in brain, eye and spinal cord. The peak level of LUC activity was at birth, with return to a plateau (1/3 of peak) throughout adulthood. Deletion of the region that included the retinoic acid-receptor-related orphan receptor (RORα)-binding site and sequence-specific transcription factor (Sp1) cluster sites (44—310bp) suppressed the peak of activity. By comparison, the peak level for 234LUC was shifted 2 weeks into neonatal life in the brain, but not in the eye, and no peak of activity was observed in the spinal cord. The endogenous prosaposin mRNA in eye, spinal cord and cerebellum had low-level expression before birth and continued to increase into adulthood. In cerebrum, the endogenous mRNA showed similar expression profile to constructs 310LUC, 2400LUC and 234LUC, with the peak expression at 1 week and a decreased level in adult. In the brain of the newborn, 2400LUC was highly expressed in the trigeminal ganglion and brain stem regions when compared with the generalized expression pattern for endogenous prosaposin mRNA. These results suggest that the modifiers (RORα- and Sp1-binding sites) residing within 310bp of the 5′-flanking region mediate developmental regulation in the central nervous system and eye. Additional regulatory elements outside the 5′ region of the 2400bp promoter fragment appear to be essential for the physiological control of the prosaposin locus.

Functional Response of the Central Nervous System of Dogs to Low-Level Irradiation

1966 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. F. Sams ◽  
S. Endo ◽  
R. B. Aird ◽  
G. D. Adams ◽  
G. L. Ellman
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Functional Response ◽  
Low Level ◽  
The Central Nervous System

Immune Mechanisms Affecting the Functioning of the Central Nervous System (CNS)

2018 ◽  
pp. 47-64
Author(s):  
Moises E. Bauer ◽  
Natália P. Rocha ◽  
Wilson Savino ◽  
Antonio L. Teixeira
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
T Cells ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Hippocampal Neurogenesis ◽  
Behavioral Symptoms ◽  
Immune Mechanisms ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Impaired Cognition

This chapter presents an overview of the immune mechanisms affecting the functioning of the central nervous system (CNS). The cross-talk between the immune system and the CNS is established by three independent pathways: the humoral, neural, and cellular (leukocyte) routes. Of note, increased circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines and concomitant activation of brain-resident microglia can lead to impaired cognition and depressive behavioral symptoms. The activated microglia phenotype has been associated with neuroinflammation reported in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. This chapter also reviews novel physiological roles for adaptive immunity (especially T cells) during health and disease. T cells support hippocampal neurogenesis, cognition, mood, resilience to stress, and are protective against the development of psychiatric disorders.

scholarly journals Social Experience-Dependent Myelination: An Implication for Psychiatric Disorders

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michihiro Toritsuka ◽  
Manabu Makinodan ◽  
Toshifumi Kishimoto
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Conduction Velocity ◽  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Social Experience ◽  
Multiple Factors ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Extracellular Molecules ◽  
Activity Dependent

Myelination is one of the strategies to promote the conduction velocity of axons in order to adjust to evolving environment in vertebrates. It has been shown that myelin formation depends on genetic programing and experience, including multiple factors, intracellular and extracellular molecules, and neuronal activities. Recently, accumulating studies have shown that myelination in the central nervous system changes more dynamically in response to neuronal activities and experience than expected. Among experiences, social experience-dependent myelination draws attention as one of the critical pathobiologies of psychiatric disorders. In this review, we summarize the mechanisms of neuronal activity-dependent and social experience-dependent myelination and discuss the contribution of social experience-dependent myelination to the pathology of psychiatric disorders.

scholarly journals The orexins/hypocretins: hypothalamic peptides linked to sleep and appetite

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 955-958 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHAHRAD TAHERI ◽  
SEPEHR HAFIZI
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Sleep Disorder ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Lateral Hypothalamus ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Molecular Techniques ◽  
Medical Community ◽  
The Central Nervous System

The orexins/hypocretins are novel neuropeptides synthesized by neurons whose cell bodies are located in the lateral hypothalamus. Although these neurons are few in number, they send projections widely throughout the central nervous system (Kilduff & Peyron, 2000). There has been great excitement about the orexins/hypocretins from both the scientific and medical community. These peptides are remarkable in that they were discovered using state-of-the-art molecular techniques before their physiological actions were studied. Furthermore, there has been an exponential progress in our scientific knowledge of these peptides culminating in the orexins/hypocretins being linked to the sleep disorder, narcolepsy. With the importance of the orexins/hypocretins in sleep and arousal being increasingly recognized, it is likely that these peptides are altered by or contribute to several medical and psychiatric disorders.

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