Neural mechanism underlying stress vulnerability in aged rats

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24590887
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: General internal medicine (including Psychosomatic medicine)
• Research Institution: Kochi University
• Principal Investigator: YURI Kazunari 高知大学, 教育研究部医療学系, 教授 (10220534)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YAMAGUCHI Naoko 愛知医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (50380324)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: ストレス / エストロゲン / セロトニン / 加齢

Outline of Final Research Achievements

It has been known that stress responses in the brain change with age and aging increases the vulnerability to various stressors. The secretion/release of stress-related hormones and neurotransmitters in response to stressors in aged animals differ from those in young. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying such age-related changes. Therefore, to elucidate effects of aging on stress response in the brain, we examined the expression levels of stress-related factors using young and old rats. Our results revealed that the stress-induced expression of stress-related factors such as serotonin was changed with age. Moreover, the present data demonstrated that there are sex differences in these stress responses in old rats.

Free Research Field

神経解剖学