Spreading SPARED findings and the joy of neuroscience to undergraduates around New England.

The goal of Project 5, directed by Dr. Berretta, is to elucidate relationships among PACAP and CRF signaling, circadian rhythm regulation, and sex differences in the pathophysiology of PTSD from postmortem human brain.

Published: 06/02/2021

Current and preliminary data suggest that PACAP signaling may directly affect CRF expressing cells and that circadian expression of PACAP and its cognate receptor PAC1R, and their subsequent regulation of CRF systems, may vary during the course of the day. Such variations may potentially contribute to disruptions of sleep/wake cycles associated with DSM-defined illnesses including PTSD, major depression, and anxiety disorders. Surprisingly, virtually no information is available on cell-level expression of CRF and PACAP signaling pathways in the human AMG, BNST, dACG and HPTh, their relationships to circadian rhythms, and the involvement of CRF/PACAP interactions in the neuropathology of PTSD. The talk Dr. Berretta presented gave an overview of the SPARED mission and the relevant work from her lab.