0000000000511718
AUTHOR
Verena Opitz
Temporal profiling of an acute stress-induced behavioral phenotype in mice and role of hippocampal DRR1.
Abstract Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the response to an acute stressor may provide novel insights into successful stress-coping strategies. Acute behavioral stress-effects may be restricted to a specific time window early after stress-induction. However, existing behavioral test batteries typically span multiple days or even weeks, limiting the feasibility for a broad behavioral analysis following acute stress. Here, we designed a novel comprehensive behavioral test battery in male mice that assesses multiple behavioral dimensions within a sufficiently brief time window to capture acute stress-effects and its temporal profile. Using this battery, we investigated …
In search for predictive biomarkers: dissecting the molecular pathways in brain and blood underlying poor and good antidepressant treatment response
Major depression poses a serious social and economic threat to modern societies, as it accounts for more lost productivity compared with any other disorder. There are currently two major problems calling for innovative research approaches: 1. The absence of biomarkers predicting antidepressant response and 2. The lack of conceptually novel antidepressant compounds. Identification of biomarkers could allow patient stratification and enable the selection of pathophysiologically distinct patient subgroups to allow optimized treatment choices based on biology. In search for conceptually novel antidepressants, the hippocampal dentate gyrus is a region of particular interest, as there is a large …