Title:Early-Life Stress and Psychiatric Disorders: Epidemiology, Neurobiology and Innovative Pharmacological Targets
Volume: 21
Issue: 11
Author(s): A. Ventriglio, A. Gentile, R.J. Baldessarini and A. Bellomo
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Early life stress, HPA axis, glucocorticoids, neuroplasticity, neurogenesis.
Abstract: The modern concept of stress is based on responses to events or factors (“stressors”) experienced as aversive,
threatening or excessive for maintaining physiological equilibrium of an organism. Prolonged exposure to stressors, particularly
during early life, is strongly associated with later psychiatric disorders. Underlying mechanistic connections between
stress responses and development of psychiatric illnesses remain uncertain and typically appear to be nonspecific.
Relevant candidate mechanisms are likely to include the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, marked by sustained
excessive release of cortisol from the adrenal cortex. In turn, this process is influenced by and alters various central
neurotransmitter and other molecular signaling systems that include glutamate, dopamine, serotonin, and neurotrophic
peptides. A dditional manifestations of stress include altered neurogenesis and neuroplasticity, as well as oxidative
neuron-damaging effects. The complex molecular systems involved in these processes present many opportunities for innovative pharmacological
interventions that may have preventive or therapeutic benefits regarding mental illnesses arising from stress.
