Neonatal isolation stress alters bidirectional long-term synaptic plasticity in amygdalo-hippocampal synapses in freely behaving adult rats

Unraveling the Time Domains of Corticosteroid Hormone Influences on Brain Activity: Rapid, Slow, and Chronic Modes

“…The first principle is that rather mild disturbances early in life (such as 3-min novelty exposure for the first 3 postnatal weeks or pups being separated from the mother up to 1 h per day) generally seem to enhance excitability, for instance by facilitating LTP in the CA1 area or enhancing spontaneous firing in the PFC (Kehoe and Bronzino, 1999;Zou et al, 2001;Tang and Zou, 2002;Akers et al, 2006;Stevenson et al, 2008); there are, however, some indications for reduced activity as well (Hsu et al, 2003;Blaise et al, 2008). More severe conditions, though, are consistently linked with reduced synaptic plasticity.…”

Chronic stress impacts the cardiovascular system: animal models and clinical outcomes

“…The stress of isolation activates the HPA axis and causes morphological and functional changes in the hypothalamus and other regions of the brain (168). The relationships between neonatal isolation stress with adulthood addiction (181), response to psychostimulants (182,183), nociceptive stimuli (66), learning, memory (35), locomotor (222), and exploratory activities (24) have all been investigated using methods based on this model. Blood pressure in adult males, subjected to separation from their mothers, is 20% higher than controls, an effect that has been related to increased hypothalamus-pituitary stimulation, resulting in higher sympathetic activity.…”

Invited Commentary: Understanding Brain Mechanisms of Pain Processing in Adolescents’ Non-Suicidal Self-Injury

“…It is known that early life experiences of trauma affects the neural pathways related to emotional distress processing (Blaise et al 2008;Gunnar and Fisher 2006;McEwen 2003). The effect of stress on neuronal pathways is largely dependent on the developmental stage of the individual at the time of the trauma.…”