TEENAGE STRESS | Research suggests that stress in adolescents may affect areas of the brain associated with depression and schizophrenia.

Researchers from the Incliva Health Research Institute, the University Teaching Hospital of Valencia, the University of Valencia (UV) and the Network Center for Biomedical Research in Mental Health (Cibersam) of the Carlos III Institute of Health described how He stress During adolescence, it changes the behavior and circuitry of the thalamus. area of ​​the brain that is necessary for process information coming from the outside, and also participate in complex cognitive processes.

The study, a follow-up to previous work that analyzed the prefrontal cortex, was recently published in the journal Neurobiology of Disease.

Doctor Juan Nacker, Coordinator of the Psychiatry and Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Group of Incliva, G23 Cibersam Investigator and Professor of Cell Biology at UV, who is the author responsible for the article, explains that “the thalamus is a very interesting area because it has been seen to be influenced by various mental diseases such as depression wave schizophrenia and our own work with patient neuroimaging shows that this is the case.

“In the current study,” he continues, “we fundamentally dissect inhibitory neural circuits that play a fundamental role in controlling thalamic function and demonstrate using micethat adverse experiences during adolescence have a very important effect on the thalamus, especially in women“.

Depression and schizophrenia, object of study

Increasing knowledge about mental illness, especially depression and schizophrenia, is the main goal of the Incliva Psychiatry and Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Group.

“These are very common diseases that affect more than 1% and 5% of the world’s population, respectively. These are serious diseases that are still poorly understood and this represents a great burden on both the patient and those around them,” explains Naeher in a statement.

The research team is also exploring new therapeutic mechanisms that may help reduce symptoms and improve patients’ lives. I’m currently researching specifically the impact that adverse experiences in early life (childhood and adolescence) can have on the development of depression and psychosis in adulthood, from an interdisciplinary perspective, using animal models, post-mortem patient tissue, neuroimaging, genetic and psychological assessments.

The group is also exploring new diagnostic procedures that provide direct or indirect access to patients’ brains, both through neuroimaging analysis and through the study of genes and molecules in the blood, through olfactory epithelial cells that share many of the same characteristics as neurons, or through the formation of neuronal lineages from blood cells.

Suicide Prevention

In addition, he is involved in initiatives aimed at promoting suicide prevention and develops strategies to reduce its prevalence. For research, platforms such as the Incliva Precision Medicine Unit and the scientific and technical equipment of both this organization and the UF are usually used.

The group, which is part of Incliva’s cross-cutting programs on rare diseases and neurological disorders, maintains active national and international collaborations to develop ongoing projects.

He currently has ongoing projects from the Carlos III Institute of Health, the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Generalitat of Valencia (Prometeo Programme), the VLC-Bioclinica program and the Alicia Koplowitz and Mutua Madrileña Foundations.