Stress is such an over-used word that it is at time difficult to define its core features. When is an environment stressful? What does a stressful environment do to the brain and to the body? What are the biological mechanisms by which a stressor affects us? How does stress contributes to the onset and the progression of mental disorders? How do the effects of stress change over the life-time of an individual? These are just some of the overarching questions addressed by this book, thanks to the contribution of some of the world leading experts on the neurobiology of stress at the pre-clinical and clinical levels. Topics include current advances on the neurobiology of stress on various neurobiological systems such as immune, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, neurogenesis and neuroplasticity, neurotransmitter (glutamate, noradrenaline, dopamine, serotonin and endocannabinoid), neuropeptides, cognition and emotional processing as well as in utero and early postnatal effects. The clinical chapters deal with the relationship of stress and mental disorders such as depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, substance abuse and addiction, dementia and age-related cognitive decline as well as resilience to stress. Thus, this book brings together some of the most updated and authoritative views on the effects of stress of brain and behavior.
This volume focuses on the behavioral neuroscience that supports our understanding of the neurobiology of trauma risk and response. The collection of articles focuses on both preclinical and clinical reviews of (1) state-of-the-art knowledge of mechanisms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and co-occurring disorders, (2) the biological and psychological constructs that support risk and resiliency for trauma disorders, and (3), novel treatment strategies and therapeutics on the horizon.
This volume focuses on the behavioral neuroscience that supports our understanding of the neurobiology of trauma risk and response. The collection of articles focuses on both preclinical and clinical reviews of (1) state-of-the-art knowledge of mechanisms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and co-occurring disorders, (2) the biological and psychological constructs that support risk and resiliency for trauma disorders, and (3), novel treatment strategies and therapeutics on the horizon.
The book is part of a series on Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, which has as its focus anxiety and its treatment. We have brought together a distinguished cadre of authors with the aim of covering a broad array of topics related to anxiety disorders, ranging from clinical diagnosis, epidemiology, preclinical neuroscience, and animal models to established and innovative therapeutic approaches. The book aims at bridging these disciplines to provide an update of literature relevant to understanding anxiety, its consequences, and its management. Following is a brief overview of the chapters and their content, meant to serve as a guide to navigating the book. The ?rst section covers clinical aspects of anxiety disorders. Joe Bienvenu and colleagues provide an incisive overview of diagnostic considerations in the anxiety disorders in which they emphasize the strengths and shortcomings of our current nosologic systems. This is followed by a review and update of the epidemiology of anxiety disorders by Ron Kessler and colleagues, which provides an authoritative survey of anxiety disorder incidence, prevalence, and risk factors. This is comp- mented by a comprehensive review of the literature on disorders that co-occur with anxiety disorders by Kathleen Merikangas and Sonja Alsemgeest Swanson. Their review highlights the tremendous comorbidity that occurs not only within the anxiety disorders, but also with other mental and physical health conditions.
This title comprehensively covers the molecular basis of stress responses of the nervous system, providing a unique and fundamental insight into the molecular, physiological and behavioral basis of the stress response of a whole organism. Edited by leading experts in the field and summarizing the latest research advances in this area, this ready reference is an invaluable resource for clinicians dealing with stress-related disorders, biomedical researchers working in the field as well as for pharmacology and biotech companies.
The Handbook of Stress and the Brain focuses on the impact of stressful events on the functioning of the central nervous system; how stress affects molecular and cellular processes in the brain, and in turn, how these brain processes determine our perception of and reactivity to, stressful challenges - acutely and in the long-run. Written for a broad scientific audience, the Handbook comprehensively reviews key principles and facts to provide a clear overview of the interdisciplinary field of stress. The work aims to bring together the disciplines of neurobiology, physiology, immunology, psychology and psychiatry, to provide a reference source for both the non-clinical and clinical expert, as well as serving as an introductory text for novices in this field of scientific inquiry. Part 1 addresses basic aspects of the neurobiology of the stress response including the involvement of neuropeptide, neuroendocrine and neurotransmitter systems and its corollaries regarding gene expression and behavioural processes such as cognition, motivation and emotionality. * Provides an overview of recent advances made in stress research * Includes timely discussion of stress and its effect on the immune system * Presents novel treatment strategies targeting brain processes involved in stress processing and coping mechanisms
The soldier who sustains wounds in battle, the mother who worries about her soldier son, the gambler who watches the races ?whether he wins or loses-, the horse and the jockey he bet on: they are all under stress. The beggar who suffers from hunger and the glutton who overeats, the little shopkeeper with his constant fears of bankruptcy and the rich merchant struggling for yet another million: they are also all under stress&.What is this one mysterious condition that the most different kinds of people have in common with animals and even with individual cells, at times when much ?much of anything- happens to them? What is the nature of stress? (Selye, 1956, p.3). Hans Selye (Selye, 1936, Selye, 1956) coined the stress concept, defining it as a nonspecific response of the organism to any pressure or demand. This implies a general, organismic response including hormonal, cardiovascular, metabolic, neural and behavioral changes to cope with the circumstances. In terms of evolutionary theory, the stress response may be seen as a general adaptation to limiting conditions of diverse nature, which is oriented to restore homeostasis. Therefore, it may not be surprising that some aspects of these mechanisms are highly conserved across different types of animals. Moreover, stress itself may be viewed as a major factor driving evolutionary changes. In many cases, stressful conditions (be them famine, drought, extreme temperatures, predator pressures, stacking or else) determine population mortality and act as a sieve to select those individuals who better respond to these conditions. Hence, the behavioral and physiological strategies that an animal (or plant) adopts to deal with stressful conditions may determine which are the subjects that will have more chances to survive (Aboitiz, 1990). If the stressful conditions repeat in time; if adopting a particular response to these conditions is crucial to survival; and if this choice is genetically biased, a selective trend may be initiated in the direction of adapting better to the new conditions. For example, some bird species migrate over long distances to avoid the hard winter in the northern hemisphere, while others remain in their places in spite of the scarcity of food and extreme cold. Presumably, in the initial conditions, some birds moved looking for food elsewhere while others remained in their territories, using their behavioral skills to obtain the scarce food available. In some species, fliers eventually otnumbered those who stayed, and became migratory birds like cranes, while in some other species like crows, those who stayed prevailed, evolving into sedentary species. These different strategies led to different types of adaptations: migratory birds developed a powerful and resistant flight apparatus, a neural flight orienting system and other characteristics, while sedentary birds developed a powerful memory and high behavioral plasticity, associated to brains larger than those of migratory birds (Sol et al., 2005), beside other adaptations to survive the extreme colds of the northern winter. Thus, stress is a major force in evolutionary change, and animals have developed specific adaptations to respond to, and to prevent, conditions that attempt against the maintenance of homeostasis. As mentioned, the stress response is systemic, involving mechanisms ranging from gene regulation to network organization. In vertebrates, this response is mediated mainly by the stress hormones of the glucocorticoid family and catecholamines, triggered in higher vertebrates by the hypothalamic-derived corticotropin-releasing hormone, in the hypothalamic-pituitary portal vascular system (Chapter 5). Despite being originally an adaptive response, in several circumstances (especially when the disturbing stimulus is too intense or lasts too long) the compensating mechanisms become disbalanced and the same response becomes harmful for the organism, leading to sometimes severe pathological disorders. This book focuses on the neural mechanisms and the disbalances involved in the stress response, from the perspective of a biological response to threatening conditions in a wide variety of vertebrate animals. We will review the comparative and evolutionary aspects of the stress response in vertebrates, starting from the neural systems involved in the identification of stressful stimuli and in their association to emotional responses (Chapter 1, Aboitiz). This chapter emphasizes the evolution and increasing complexity of associative systems that permit to establish links between sensory stimuli and emotional responses. In Chapter 2, Dagnino-Subiabre provides a description of the evolutionary history of the auditory system in mammals from rodents to primates including humans, indicating a phylogenetically-maintained connectivity with the amygdalar system, which is proposed to be more robust than that of the visual system in all species studied. His main perspective is that stress decreases the level of the fear threshold in the brain. Chapter 3 (Nichols et al.) further emphasizes, from a comparative viewpoint, the role of the auditory system in the stress response, especially in relation to mechanisms of neural plasticity. This chapter also provides possible strategies for therapeutic treatments in auditory-related pathological stress responses. Fiedler (Chapter 4) reviews the molecular and cellular effects of chronic stressful stimuli on different brain structures like the hippocampus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex, highlighting the role of neuroprotective molecules like BDNF and Bcl-2, as well as the effects on memory in these patients. Chapter 5 (Tapia-Arancibia and Arancibia) reviews the phylogeny of the genes involved in the stress response, including the main stress hormones, neurotrophins and their receptors. Furthermore, these authors present evidence on the regulation of BDNF by different neurotransmitters and hormones; including the role of this peptide in different behaviors and in the response to different forms of stress protocols. In Chapter 6 (Aliaga), the effects of stress in hippocampal BDNF expression is analyzed in relation to neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, neuronal morphology and survival. Emphasis is provided in the complexity of mechanisms for BDNF regulation, including the action of antidepressants and the existence of polymorphisms in the human species. The final Chapters relate to clinical issues. Pineda (Chapter 7) discusses the mechanisms involved in anxiety and depression, proposing that these correspond to adaptive mechanisms oriented to minimize energy expenditures in poor pay-off activities. The mechanisms of depression and anxiety are argued to share common determinants, principally based on the interaction between serotonergic and GABAergic activity, mediated by their different receptor subtypes. In Chapter 8, Bacigalupo and López-Calderón analyze the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in diverse cognitive functions, particularly in relation to attentional and mnemonic functions. In addition, these authors analyze the effects of PTSD in the physiology and morphology of the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex in human subjects, attempting to offer a neurobiological basis for the cognitive alterations observed in these patients. Finally, Chapter 9 (Paz et al.) reviews the relation of stress with depression and the therapeutic and preventive effects of antidepressants on this condition. They propose that the stereotyped behavior observed in depressed patients could be caused by the failure of an emotional modulator system that seems to be critical for sustaining the increased levels of behavioral flexibility observed when highly evolved animals and humans are exposed to fear-evoking stimuli. In general, the book reviews anatomic, genetic, physiological, pharmacological, and cognitive aspects of the stress response, attempting in each case to provide an evolutionary perspective of this phenomenon as a process that restores homeostasis and permits to anticipate future stressful events. This response may become harmful to the organism if it does not succeed in restoring homeostasis of certain specific parameters. Especially in the long term, there appears to be an accumulative effect of repeating stressful events, leading to chronic mood disorders. Currently, stress related disorders such as major depression and posttraumatic stress disorder are diseases with high worldwide prevalence and have major social impact in several countries. The extremely rapid development of modern human society has been imposing an increasingly heavy load in individuals, at educational, laboral, familial and social levels, sometimes disbalancing these originally adaptive systems and triggering pathological conditions that are being observed with increasing frequency. In this context, we consider that a multidisciplinary approach to the stress concept is becoming more and more necessary, and knowledge of its evolution and of its original, adaptive functions become essential elements for the understanding of this process as a function that permits to maintain health in adverse conditions.
Neurobiology of PTSD outlines the basic neural mechanisms that mediate complex responses and adaptations to psychological trauma, describing how these biological processes are impaired in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Throughout three comprehensive sections, expert authors present detailed analysis of the neural circuitry of emotion, biological findings in post-traumatic stress disorder, and neuroscience informed treatment and prevention. This book is a foundational resource for psychiatrists, neuroscientists, psychologists, and allied health professionals.
Behavioral Neuroscientists study the behavior of animals and humans and the neurobiological and physiological processes that control it. Behavior is the ultimate function of the nervous system, and the study of it is very multidisciplinary. Disorders of behavior in humans touch millions of people’s lives significantly, and it is of paramount importance to understand pathological conditions such as addictions, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, autism among others, in order to be able to develop new treatment possibilities. Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience is the first and only multi-volume reference to comprehensively cover the foundation knowledge in the field. This three volume work is edited by world renowned behavioral neuroscientists George F. Koob, The Scripps Research Institute, Michel Le Moal, Université Bordeaux, and Richard F. Thompson, University of Southern California and written by a premier selection of the leading scientists in their respective fields. Each section is edited by a specialist in the relevant area. The important research in all areas of Behavioral Neuroscience is covered in a total of 210 chapters on topics ranging from neuroethology and learning and memory, to behavioral disorders and psychiatric diseases. The only comprehensive Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience on the market Addresses all recent advances in the field Written and edited by an international group of leading researchers, truly representative of the behavioral neuroscience community Includes many entries on the advances in our knowledge of the neurobiological basis of complex behavioral, psychiatric, and neurological disorders Richly illustrated in full color Extensively cross referenced to serve as the go-to reference for students and researchers alike The online version features full searching, navigation, and linking functionality An essential resource for libraries serving neuroscientists, psychologists, neuropharmacologists, and psychiatrists
