SCYNAPSIS
#neurosciences
#neurosciences
#neurosciences
Image credit by Pablo Ávalos Prado
Image credit by Pablo Ávalos Prado
Image credit by Pablo Ávalos Prado
Pablo Ávalos Prado
Pablo Ávalos Prado
Pablo Ávalos Prado
Neuroscientist & Medical Writer
Neuroscientist & Medical Writer
Neuroscientist & Medical Writer
April 20, 2023
April 20, 2023
April 20, 2023
Reconceptualizing resilience and susceptibility to social stress
Reconceptualizing resilience and susceptibility to social stress
Reconceptualizing resilience and susceptibility to social stress
A study performed by researchers at the University Medical Center Mainz has used a social and transcriptomic approach to identify a behavioral type of resilience in mice and the genes that could underlie this response towards stress.
Stress resilience is defined as the maintenance or quick recovery of mental health during and after adversity. Daily situations and adverse episodes like wars, pandemics and displacement of nations are affecting the mental health of millions. Our ability to discriminate between fear generalization or correct discrimination of adverse events can promote resilience in an ever-changing world.
In a work recently published in PNAS, the authors developed a “social threat-safety test” to assess mice ability to discriminate between either safe or threatening cues. During the experiment, individual mice were placed in a cage with an aggressive (threat) mouse strain that hit the mouse for several days. Then the tested mouse was introduced in a different cage where it could freely interact either with a threatening cue (a mouse from the aggressor’s strain) or a safe cue (a novel strain). The test revealed 3 groups of mice that, according to social studies, would correspond to a different type of human behavior.
The first group did not display social avoidance to the safe clue and therefore it correctly discriminated between safety and threat. In addition, with some training and time, these mice were able to forget the aversive memories and interacted again with the aggressive strain. This group corresponds to individuals that show resilience after adversity.
The second group on the other hand, did show social avoidance towards the non-aggressive mice and could forget the bad memories experienced before, which corresponds to a susceptible behavior after the occurrence of traumatic events, a key symptom of stress-related troubles such as anxiety disorders.
The last group maintained normal levels of interaction with the aggressive strain, which reflects an impaired ability to learn aversive cues, a behavior that is out of the “resilience – susceptibility spectrum”.
In addition, the researchers performed a “very exploratory” transcriptomic analysis to identify genes specifically associated with the different stress-facing behaviors in different areas of the brain involved in fear and anxiety. Among the more than 33000 genes and transcripts analyzed, several hemoglobin and neuroinflammation-associated genes in the prefrontal cortex seemed to be specific for the susceptible mice, which might explain disrupted blood flow and neuroinflammation under chronic stress conditions. The hippocampus of susceptible and resilient mice also showed differences regarding cholinergic and orexinergic signaling, two neuronal circuits closely related to depressive-like behavior and social stress modulation, respectively.
All in all, this work has identified a behavioral type of resilience in mice, supported by unique genetic and transcriptional signatures in specific areas of the brain involved in the “fear circuit”. These findings decode neurobiological mechanisms of resilience towards social stress and might serve to refine prevention strategies for stressful conditions.
Original article
A study performed by researchers at the University Medical Center Mainz has used a social and transcriptomic approach to identify a behavioral type of resilience in mice and the genes that could underlie this response towards stress.
Stress resilience is defined as the maintenance or quick recovery of mental health during and after adversity. Daily situations and adverse episodes like wars, pandemics and displacement of nations are affecting the mental health of millions. Our ability to discriminate between fear generalization or correct discrimination of adverse events can promote resilience in an ever-changing world.
In a work recently published in PNAS, the authors developed a “social threat-safety test” to assess mice ability to discriminate between either safe or threatening cues. During the experiment, individual mice were placed in a cage with an aggressive (threat) mouse strain that hit the mouse for several days. Then the tested mouse was introduced in a different cage where it could freely interact either with a threatening cue (a mouse from the aggressor’s strain) or a safe cue (a novel strain). The test revealed 3 groups of mice that, according to social studies, would correspond to a different type of human behavior.
The first group did not display social avoidance to the safe clue and therefore it correctly discriminated between safety and threat. In addition, with some training and time, these mice were able to forget the aversive memories and interacted again with the aggressive strain. This group corresponds to individuals that show resilience after adversity.
The second group on the other hand, did show social avoidance towards the non-aggressive mice and could forget the bad memories experienced before, which corresponds to a susceptible behavior after the occurrence of traumatic events, a key symptom of stress-related troubles such as anxiety disorders.
The last group maintained normal levels of interaction with the aggressive strain, which reflects an impaired ability to learn aversive cues, a behavior that is out of the “resilience – susceptibility spectrum”.
In addition, the researchers performed a “very exploratory” transcriptomic analysis to identify genes specifically associated with the different stress-facing behaviors in different areas of the brain involved in fear and anxiety. Among the more than 33000 genes and transcripts analyzed, several hemoglobin and neuroinflammation-associated genes in the prefrontal cortex seemed to be specific for the susceptible mice, which might explain disrupted blood flow and neuroinflammation under chronic stress conditions. The hippocampus of susceptible and resilient mice also showed differences regarding cholinergic and orexinergic signaling, two neuronal circuits closely related to depressive-like behavior and social stress modulation, respectively.
All in all, this work has identified a behavioral type of resilience in mice, supported by unique genetic and transcriptional signatures in specific areas of the brain involved in the “fear circuit”. These findings decode neurobiological mechanisms of resilience towards social stress and might serve to refine prevention strategies for stressful conditions.
Original article
A study performed by researchers at the University Medical Center Mainz has used a social and transcriptomic approach to identify a behavioral type of resilience in mice and the genes that could underlie this response towards stress.
Stress resilience is defined as the maintenance or quick recovery of mental health during and after adversity. Daily situations and adverse episodes like wars, pandemics and displacement of nations are affecting the mental health of millions. Our ability to discriminate between fear generalization or correct discrimination of adverse events can promote resilience in an ever-changing world.
In a work recently published in PNAS, the authors developed a “social threat-safety test” to assess mice ability to discriminate between either safe or threatening cues. During the experiment, individual mice were placed in a cage with an aggressive (threat) mouse strain that hit the mouse for several days. Then the tested mouse was introduced in a different cage where it could freely interact either with a threatening cue (a mouse from the aggressor’s strain) or a safe cue (a novel strain). The test revealed 3 groups of mice that, according to social studies, would correspond to a different type of human behavior.
The first group did not display social avoidance to the safe clue and therefore it correctly discriminated between safety and threat. In addition, with some training and time, these mice were able to forget the aversive memories and interacted again with the aggressive strain. This group corresponds to individuals that show resilience after adversity.
The second group on the other hand, did show social avoidance towards the non-aggressive mice and could forget the bad memories experienced before, which corresponds to a susceptible behavior after the occurrence of traumatic events, a key symptom of stress-related troubles such as anxiety disorders.
The last group maintained normal levels of interaction with the aggressive strain, which reflects an impaired ability to learn aversive cues, a behavior that is out of the “resilience – susceptibility spectrum”.
In addition, the researchers performed a “very exploratory” transcriptomic analysis to identify genes specifically associated with the different stress-facing behaviors in different areas of the brain involved in fear and anxiety. Among the more than 33000 genes and transcripts analyzed, several hemoglobin and neuroinflammation-associated genes in the prefrontal cortex seemed to be specific for the susceptible mice, which might explain disrupted blood flow and neuroinflammation under chronic stress conditions. The hippocampus of susceptible and resilient mice also showed differences regarding cholinergic and orexinergic signaling, two neuronal circuits closely related to depressive-like behavior and social stress modulation, respectively.
All in all, this work has identified a behavioral type of resilience in mice, supported by unique genetic and transcriptional signatures in specific areas of the brain involved in the “fear circuit”. These findings decode neurobiological mechanisms of resilience towards social stress and might serve to refine prevention strategies for stressful conditions.
Original article