The Role of Psychosocial Stress on Neuropsychiatric and Neurodegenerative Disorders

Dear Colleagues,

Individuals differ in their perception and reaction to stressful events. For human beings, the most powerful stressors involve social and psychological situations, such as the loss of loved ones, unemployment, health issues, disruptive relationships, to name a few. Stressors recruit several biological systems in order to deal with the situation in the most adaptive manner. i.e., to ensure survival. Among these, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has a prominent position, due to the influence of its hormones on numerous brain functions and, especially, glucocorticoids’ action on gene expression and protein synthesis. Recent evidence indicates the existence of a close relationship between perceived stress and triggering of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders in vulnerable individuals, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, stroke, epilepsy, depression, PTSD and schizophrenia.

These unfavorable conditions can be reproduced in the laboratory, providing controlled conditions to study the neurobiological mechanisms involved in this relationship. Some of these mechanisms are beginning to be disclosed and involve processes such as neurotoxicity, neuroinflammation and oxidative stress.

For this special issue we seek to receive submissions on clinical and preclinical original studies, reviews and mini-reviews that bring knowledge on the biological pathways by which psychological stress can lead to neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders.

Research areas include, but are not restricted to:

• Biological systems altered by psychosocial stress that may lead to neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders, involving Neuroinflammation, Oxidative stress, HPA axis/glucocorticoids, Neurotoxic transmitters, gene expression/epigenetic modifications.
• Neurological consequences of psychosocial stress, such as Stroke, Dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple sclerosis, Lateral amyotrophic sclerosis, Epilepsy, Memory and Sleep impairment
• Neuropsychiatric consequences of psychosocial stress including Schizophrenia, Depression, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Bipolar disorder.

Dr. Deborah Suchecki
Dr. Juliana Nery Souza-Talarico
Dr. Elke Bromberg
Prof. Dr. Regina Helena da Silva
Guest Editors

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• psychosocial stress
• neurologic diseases
• psychiatric disorders
• neuroinflammation
• oxidative stress
• neurotoxicity
• cortisol
• epigenetics
• neurodegeneration