Neural correlates of stress-related gene-environment interactions

压力相关基因-环境相互作用的神经相关性

• 批准号: 178395240
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Manfred Laucht (†)
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2009-12-31 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/178395240?language=en
• 关键词: Neural; correlates; stress; related; gene

Although the study of gene-environment interactions (GxE) promises to provide important clues as to the etiology of complex disorders, current evidence of GxE in psychiatry applied to categorical disease phenotypes remains inconclusive. In order to fulfill its potential, an integration of GxE research with the field of neuroscience may provide a powerful strategy. In the proposed project, we aim to study the joint effects of selected candidate genes and environmental adversities during development on neural networks that are particularly sensitive to stress. In 200 young adults from an epidemiological cohort study followed since birth, MRI and fMRI combined with EEG will be performed to assess the morphology and function of brain regions involved in emotion regulation and reward processing. As candidate genes, functional variants implicated in serotonin and dopamine signaling will be examined. As candidate environmental conditions, prenatal adversities will be contrasted with early postnatal and adolescent life adversities. Identification of mechanisms underlying GxE in stress-sensitive neural networks will help to establish more effective ways of diagnosing, preventing and treating stress-related disorders.

尽管基因-环境相互作用（GxE）的研究有望为复杂疾病的病因学提供重要线索，但目前精神病学中GxE应用于分类疾病表型的证据仍不确定。为了充分发挥其潜力，将GxE研究与神经科学领域相结合可能提供一种强有力的策略。在这个项目中，我们的目标是研究在发育过程中选择的候选基因和环境逆境对神经网络的联合影响，这些神经网络对压力特别敏感。研究人员对200名年轻成人进行了流行病学队列研究，从出生起就对其进行了跟踪，并对其进行了MRI和fMRI结合脑电图的研究，以评估参与情绪调节和奖励处理的大脑区域的形态和功能。作为候选基因，涉及血清素和多巴胺信号的功能变异将被检查。作为候选环境条件，产前逆境将与产后早期和青春期生活逆境进行对比。识别压力敏感神经网络中GxE的机制将有助于建立更有效的诊断、预防和治疗压力相关疾病的方法。