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Biology of Sex Differences Sep 2023In addition to social and cultural factors, sex differences in the central nervous system have a critical influence on behavior, although the neurobiology underlying...
BACKGROUND
In addition to social and cultural factors, sex differences in the central nervous system have a critical influence on behavior, although the neurobiology underlying these differences remains unclear. Interestingly, the Locus Coeruleus (LC), a noradrenergic nucleus that exhibits sexual dimorphism, integrates signals that are related to diverse activities, including emotions, cognition and pain. Therefore, we set-out to evaluate sex differences in behaviors related to LC nucleus, and subsequently, to assess the sex differences in LC morphology and function.
METHODS
Female and male C57BL/6J mice were studied to explore the role of the LC in anxiety, depressive-like behavior, well-being, pain, and learning and memory. We also explored the number of noradrenergic LC cells, their somatodendritic volume, as well as the electrophysiological properties of LC neurons in each sex.
RESULTS
While both male and female mice displayed similar depressive-like behavior, female mice exhibited more anxiety-related behaviors. Interestingly, females outperformed males in memory tasks that involved distinguishing objects with small differences and they also showed greater thermal pain sensitivity. Immunohistological analysis revealed that females had fewer noradrenergic cells yet they showed a larger dendritic volume than males. Patch clamp electrophysiology studies demonstrated that LC neurons in female mice had a lower capacitance and that they were more excitable than male LC neurons, albeit with similar action potential properties.
CONCLUSIONS
Overall, this study provides new insights into the sex differences related to LC nucleus and associated behaviors, which may explain the heightened emotional arousal response observed in females.
Topics: Female; Male; Mice; Animals; Locus Coeruleus; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Neurons; Norepinephrine; Emotions
PubMed: 37770907
DOI: 10.1186/s13293-023-00550-7 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2022
PubMed: 35936350
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.928054 -
Frontiers in Neuroanatomy 2019
PubMed: 31447656
DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2019.00080 -
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 2022Loneliness is a complex and uncomfortable feeling that results from the perception of a lack of desired personal and social ties. Loneliness is accentuated with aging....
Loneliness is a complex and uncomfortable feeling that results from the perception of a lack of desired personal and social ties. Loneliness is accentuated with aging. It has been related to a wide range of objective and subjective health indicators and is a risk factor for morbidity and mortality. One of the proposed underlying mechanisms through which loneliness affects health is the dysregulation of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis. However, the relationship between loneliness and cortisol, the main product of the HPA axis, is unclear and requires more research. The aims of this cross-sectional study were to investigate the relationships between loneliness, subjective health, and cortisol indexes, taking the sex into account, and investigate whether the HPA axis mediates the relationship between loneliness and subjective health. For this purpose, 79 participants (between 55 and 75 years old) completed several scales on loneliness, depression, perceived stress, psychological and physical health, and social relationships. Various salivary cortisol measurements were obtained on two consecutive days. The initial results showed that loneliness was related to psychological and physical health in the mixed-sex sample. However, when covariates were introduced, loneliness was only associated with psychological health in males. In addition, the cortisol indexes employed were not related to loneliness and did not mediate the relationship between loneliness and subjective health. Hence, we did not find a relevant role of the HPA axis in the association between loneliness and subjective health. More severe perceptions of loneliness would probably be necessary to detect this role. Overall, these results also show that the expected negative outcomes of loneliness associated with aging can be countered by an active life that can compensate for the natural losses experienced with age or at least delay these negative outcomes. Finally, some sex differences were found, in line with other studies, which warrants further examination of social variables and dimensions related to gender in future research.
PubMed: 35359585
DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.809733 -
Molecular Neurobiology Jan 2016Substance use disorders (SUDs) are highly prevalent. SUDs involve vicious cycles of binges followed by occasional periods of abstinence with recurrent relapses despite... (Review)
Review
Substance use disorders (SUDs) are highly prevalent. SUDs involve vicious cycles of binges followed by occasional periods of abstinence with recurrent relapses despite treatment and adverse medical and psychosocial consequences. There is convincing evidence that early and adult stressful life events are risks factors for the development of addiction and serve as cues that trigger relapses. Nevertheless, the fact that not all individuals who face traumatic events develop addiction to licit or illicit drugs suggests the existence of individual and/or familial resilient factors that protect these mentally healthy individuals. Here, I give a brief overview of the epigenetic bases of responses to stressful events and of epigenetic changes associated with the administration of drugs of abuse. I also discuss the psychobiology of resilience and alterations in epigenetic markers that have been observed in models of resilience. Finally, I suggest the possibility that treatment of addiction should involve cognitive and pharmacological approaches that enhance resilience in at risk individuals. Similar approaches should also be used with patients who have already succumbed to the nefarious effects of addictive substances.
Topics: Animals; Behavior, Addictive; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Epigenesis, Genetic; Genome, Human; Humans; Resilience, Psychological; Stress, Psychological; Substance-Related Disorders
PubMed: 25502297
DOI: 10.1007/s12035-014-9040-y -
Journal of Neuroscience Research May 2023Many studies have reported sex differences in empathy and social skills. In this review, several lines of empirical evidences about sex differences in functions and... (Review)
Review
Many studies have reported sex differences in empathy and social skills. In this review, several lines of empirical evidences about sex differences in functions and anatomy of social brain are discussed. The most relevant differences involve face processing, facial expression recognition, response to baby schema, the ability to see faces in things, the processing of social interactions, the response to the others' pain, interest in social information, processing of gestures and actions, biological motion, erotic, and affective stimuli. Sex differences in oxytocin-based parental response are also reported. In conclusion, the female and male brains show several neuro-functional differences in various aspects of social cognition, and especially in emotional coding, face processing, and response to baby schema. An interpretation of this sexual dimorphism is provided in the view of evolutionary psychobiology.
Topics: Male; Female; Humans; Sex Characteristics; Social Cognition; Brain; Emotions; Empathy; Facial Expression; Cognition
PubMed: 33608982
DOI: 10.1002/jnr.24787 -
Frontiers in Endocrinology 2021
PubMed: 35069457
DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2021.832866 -
Sleep Advances : a Journal of the Sleep... 2023My long day's journey into sleep began as an adolescent trying to manage my evening chronotype. The relief, I felt when my undergraduate finals were scheduled at night...
My long day's journey into sleep began as an adolescent trying to manage my evening chronotype. The relief, I felt when my undergraduate finals were scheduled at night and as a medical student being able to select psychiatry over surgery deepened my interest in sleep and chronobiology. That interest was allowed to flourish at the National Institute of Mental Health and then at Yale Medical School in setting up a sleep laboratory. The decision to move to the University of Pittsburgh in 1973 led to a 42-year adventure in which we were able to initiate research efforts on the psychobiology of depression. Our interest in social zeitgebers (daily routines) led directly to the development and testing of a treatment intervention for mood disorders, interpersonal, and social rhythm therapy. Our continued emphasis on sleep and circadian rhythms convinced us that sleep and circadian factors were central to all of health, based on the importance of connectivity between sleep and major metabolic and cell functions. This ongoing research motivated our strong desire to study the developmental aspects of sleep. Our success was influenced immensely by the presence of young scientists and a strong subsequent interest in career mentoring. Finally, as we left Pittsburgh in 2015, we became involved in the field of continuous objective monitoring using the commercial smartphone's behavioral sensing capabilities. Our journey is not over. We hope to explore the potential of these remarkable devices to improve our understanding of sleep/wake and circadian factors across all of health.
PubMed: 37614777
DOI: 10.1093/sleepadvances/zpad002 -
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition Sep 2018
Review
Topics: Adult; Capitalism; Child; Energy Metabolism; Feeding Behavior; Humans; Models, Theoretical; Obesity; United States
PubMed: 30185852
DOI: 10.1038/s41430-018-0231-x -
International Journal of Psychological... 2023Stress is fundamental for health and adaptation; it is an evolutionarily conserved response that involves several systems in the organism. The study of the stress...
Stress is fundamental for health and adaptation; it is an evolutionarily conserved response that involves several systems in the organism. The study of the stress response could be traced back to the end of the nineteenth century with George Beard's or Claude Bernard's work and, from that moment on, several studies that have allowed the elucidation of its neurobiology and the consequences of suffering from it were consolidated. In this theoretical review, we discuss the most relevant researches to our knowledge on the study of stress response, from the concept of stress, its neurobiology, the hormonal response during stress, as well as its regulation, the effects of acute and chronic stress, stress from cognition, the different stress responses during life, as well as its relationship with different psychiatric disorders. Taken together, the reviewed research updates the classic perspective on stress, increasing the factors that should be considered in research to explore the effects of stress on health.
PubMed: 38106958
DOI: 10.21500/20112084.5815