Sex differences in stress coping and anxiety: role of the brain CRF system

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During my research stay in the laboratory of Dr. Victor Viau at the University of British Columbia I will investigate the sex-specific role of the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) system in stress coping and the process of habituation to repeated stressor exposition as well as the sex-specific regulation of anxiety-related behavior by the CRF system in male and female rats. To date, most neuroscientific research has focused on males. However, accumulating evidence points to a higher prevalence of females to develop pathophysiologies. This sexual dimorphism is particularly prevailing in the context of stress, which I started to address already in my PhD thesis. I demonstrated that female rats respond more sensitive to CRF and show increased anxiety-related behavior than male rats. Furthermore, it is known that females adapt less to repeated stressor exposition which is most likely based on the distinct expression of gonadal hormones and central neuropeptide systems. This leads to my hypothesis stating that the CRF system as main initiator of the stress axis plays a central and sexually dimorph role in the process of habituation to stress and the expression of anxiety. During my postdoctoral research stay in the laboratory of Dr. Viau, I aim to address these questions via neuroanatomical combined with neuropharmacological and neuroendocrine approaches eliciting potential mechanisms underlying both research questions.