Grant: Operating Grant

Exposure to a severe stressful event can result in long-lasting psychopathological consequences with the result that patients become hyper-sensitive to stressors not directly related to the traumatic situation (i.e. post traumatic stress disorder). Specifically, exposure to a single stress can sensitize our system to future stressors through actions on the the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. My laboratory investigates synapses that regulate the activity of central stress command neurons neurons in the hypothalamus. Here we seek funding to better understand the cellular mechanisms that allow stress to prime brain pathways and contribute to the development of hypersensitivity to stress. This process may underlie clinically relevant disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder in which the entire stress system, is sensitized to future experiences by an intense stressor so understanding the neurobiological consequences of stress exposure will provide potential treatment targets for this and other stress disorders.