The stressed neuromatrix
Tuesday Seminar
- Date: Sep 22, 2015
- Time: 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
- Speaker: Nuno Sousa, MD PhD
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS) School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Portugal
- Location: Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry
- Room: Lecture Hall
- Host: Alon Chen
Stressful stimuli in healthy subjects trigger activation of a consistent and reproducible set of brain regions; yet, the notion that there is a single and constant stress neuromatrix is not sustainable.
Indeed, after chronic stress exposure there is activation of many brain regions outside that network. This suggests that there is a distinction between the acute- and the chronic-stress neuromatrix. Herein, a new working model is proposed to understand the shift between these networks. The understanding of the factors that modulate these dynamics and their interplay will allow for a more comprehensive and holistic perspective of how the brain shifts “back and forth” from a healthy to a stressed pattern and, ultimately, how the latter can be a trigger for several neurological and psychiatric conditions.