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Stressful events throughout life increase risk of developing depression and exacerbate age-associated cognitive decline. The developmental period is particularly sensitive to stress, causing long term effects on affective and cognitive behaviour for the rest of life – a concept known as early-life programming of adult disease. [more]

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Prof. Fornaguera research is centered on behavioral and neural effects of positive and negative early life experiences using environmental enrichment, voluntary and forced exercise, social isolation, and individual differences in maternal care, using paradigms relevant to models of affective and cognitive alterations associated with anxiety and depression. [more]

Clinical studies suggest that heightened peripheral inflammation contributes to the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder. We investigated the effect of chronic social defeat stress, a mouse model of depression, on blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability and infiltration of peripheral immune signals. [more]