Stress and Plasticity in the Limbic System

@article{Sapolsky2004StressAP,
  title={Stress and Plasticity in the Limbic System},
  author={Robert Morris Sapolsky},
  journal={Neurochemical Research},
  year={2004},
  volume={28},
  pages={1735-1742}
}
  • R. Sapolsky
  • Published 1 November 2003
  • Psychology
  • Neurochemical Research
The adult nervous system is not static, but instead can change, can be reshaped by experience. Such plasticity has been demonstrated from the most reductive to the most integrated levels, and understanding the bases of this plasticity is a major challenge. It is apparent that stress can alter plasticity in the nervous system, particularly in the limbic system. This paper reviews that subject, concentrating on: a) the ability of severe and/or prolonged stress to impair hippocampal-dependent… 
View on Springer
dept.wofford.edu
482 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
25
Background Citations
254
Methods Citations
1
Results Citations
10

482 Citations

Experience-driven brain plasticity: beyond the synapse.
TLDR
Research reveals that changes in synapse number and morphology are associated with learning and are stable, in that they persist well beyond the period of exposure to the learning experience.
Chronic stress, cortical plasticity and neuroecology
  • J. Reser
  • Psychology, Biology
    Behavioural Processes
  • 2016
Effects of Stress Factors on the Functioning of the Adult Hippocampus: Molecular-Cellular Mechanisms and the Dorsoventral Gradient
  • N. Gulyaeva
  • Biology, Psychology
    Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology
  • 2014
TLDR
Functional differentiation is based on differences in the basal molecular-cellular mechanisms of plasticity and stress-induced changes in these mechanisms in the dorsal and ventral parts of the hippocampus.
Stress, Depression, and Neuroplasticity: A Convergence of Mechanisms
TLDR
Greater appreciation of the convergence of mechanisms between stress, depression, and neuroplasticity is likely to lead to the identification of novel targets for more efficacious treatments.
Disorders of memory and plasticity in psychiatric disease
  • C. Pittenger
  • Psychology, Biology
    Dialogues in clinical neuroscience
  • 2013
TLDR
This review explores three different ways in which dysregulation of neuropiastic and mnemonic processes can contribute to psychiatric illness, including the relationship between stress, major depression, and impaired neuroplasticity.
Neuronal plasticity: A link between stress and mood disorders
Fluoxetine affects hippocampal plasticity, apoptosis and depressive-like behavior of chronically isolated rats
Stress-induced changes in nucleus accumbens glutamate synaptic plasticity.
TLDR
It is hypothesized that altered information processing via plasticity of excitatory inputs might contribute to reward-related behaviors such as stress-induced reinstatement of drug seeking in animals and relapse in humans.
Differential modulation of hippocampal plasticity in a non-noxious conflict model for anxiety
Glucocorticoids and the Brain: Neural Mechanisms Regulating the Stress Response.
TLDR
The mechanisms by which the brain gauges the severity of stress, mechanisms of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) regulation, and how various sub-systems of the brain respond to glucocorticoid (GC) signaling to regulate stress behavior are described.
...
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 118 REFERENCES
The stressed hippocampus, synaptic plasticity and lost memories
TLDR
An overview of the neurobiology of stress–memory interactions is provided, and a neural–endocrine model is presented to explain how stress modifies hippocampal functioning.
Stress and hippocampal plasticity.
  • B. McEwen
  • Biology, Psychology
    Annual review of neuroscience
  • 1999
TLDR
The hippocampus is a target of stress hormones, and it is an especially plastic and vulnerable region of the brain that undergoes a selective atrophy in a number of disorders, accompanied by deficits in declarative episodic, spatial, and contextual memory performance.
Behavioural stress facilitates the induction of long-term depression in the hippocampus
TLDR
It is reported that the induction of stable homosynaptic LTD in the CA1 area of the hippocampus of awake adult rats is facilitated, rather than inhibited, by exposure to mild naturalistic stress.
Effects of chronic stress on dendritic arborization in the central and extended amygdala
Predator Exposure Produces Retrograde Amnesia and Blocks Synaptic Plasticity: Progress toward Understanding How the Hippocampus Is Affected by Stress
TLDR
This chapter reviews the studies on the effects of acute stress on hippocampal-dependent memory and synaptic plasticity and indicates that exposing rats to a predator, which is an intense stressor, impairs cognitive and electrophysiological measures of hippocampal functioning.
Stress induces atrophy of apical dendrites of hippocampal CA3 pyramidal neurons
Glucocorticoid receptor and protein/RNA synthesis-dependent mechanisms underlie the control of synaptic plasticity by stress.
TLDR
It is discovered that glucocorticoid receptor activation mediates the effects of stress on LTD and long-term potentiation in a protein synthesis-dependent manner because they were prevented by the glucocortex receptor antagonist RU 38486 and the protein synthesis inhibitor emetine.
Behavioral stress impairs long-term potentiation in rodent hippocampus.
Psychological stress repeatedly blocks hippocampal primed burst potentiation in behaving rats
Brain aging correlates: retardation by hormonal-pharmacological treatments.
TLDR
The results suggest that certain endogenous peptides, with stimulant properties, may also exert long-term, trophic effects on brain structure and function.
...
...