Impact of stress on brain morphology

Exposure to acute and chronic stress has a broad range of structural effects on the brain. The brain areas commonly targeted in the stress response models include the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the prefrontal cortex. Studies in patients suffering from the so-called stress-related disorders -embr...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Cardoner, Narcís|||0000-0001-9633-0888, Andero Galí, Raül|||0000-0003-3641-8903, Cano, Marta|||0000-0003-0675-9483, Marin Blasco, Ignacio Javier|||0000-0001-5096-2871, Porta-Casteràs, Daniel|||0000-0002-3921-3607, Serra Blasco, Maria|||0000-0001-5793-9906, Via, Esther|||0000-0002-2331-3232, Vicent Gil, Muriel|||0000-0001-7534-5095, Portella Moll, Maria J., 1975-|||0000-0002-2007-9516
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:296683
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/296683
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.2174/1570159X21666230703091435
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Basolateral amygdala
Brain morphology
HPA.
PTSD
Stress response systems
Descripción
Sumario:Exposure to acute and chronic stress has a broad range of structural effects on the brain. The brain areas commonly targeted in the stress response models include the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the prefrontal cortex. Studies in patients suffering from the so-called stress-related disorders -embracing post-traumatic stress, major depressive and anxiety disorders- have fairly replicated animal models of stress response -particularly the neuroendocrine and the inflammatory models- by finding alterations in different brain areas, even in the early neurodevelopment. Therefore, this narrative review aims to provide an overview of structural neuroimaging findings and to discuss how these studies have contributed to our knowledge of variability in response to stress and the ulterior development of stress-related disorders. There are a gross number of studies available but neuroimaging research of stress-related disorders as a single category is still in its infancy. Although the available studies point at particular brain circuitries involved in stress and emotion regulation, the pathophysiology of these abnormalities -involving genetics, epigenetics and molecular pathways-, their relation to intraindividual stress responses -including personality characteristics, self-perception of stress conditions…-, and their potential involvement as biomarkers in diagnosis, treatment prescription and prognosis are discussed.