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Author Spotlight: Exploring Microglial Interactions with Stress-Response Circuitry Using the Limited Bedding and Nesting Model
Published on: July 12, 2024
Noradrenergic alterations associated with early life stress
Megan Sheppard1, Jalil Rasgado-Toledo2, Niall Duncan3
1Division of Psychology, Communication and Human Neuroscience, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
Abstract:
Significant stress in childhood or adolescence is linked to both structural and functional changes in the brain in human and analogous animal models. In addition, neuromodulators, such as noradrenaline (NA), show life-long alterations in response to these early life stressors, which may impact upon the sensitivity and time course of key adrenergic activities, such as rapid autonomic stress responses (the 'fight or flight response'). The locus-coeruleus noradrenergic (LC-NA) network, a key stress-responsive network in the brain, displays numerous changes in response to significant early- life stress. Here, we review the relationship between NA and the neurobiological changes associated with early life stress and set out future lines of research that can illuminate how brain circuits and circulating neurotransmitters adapt in response to childhood stressors.
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