Target Audience

Des Moines University faculty, staff, and students.

Purpose

One of the most consistent findings from post-mortem studies of depressed patients is a reduction in density of astrocytes in key brain areas involved in emotion regulation. However, the significance of these reductions remains unclear. Using rodent chronic stress models, we investigate the biological mechanisms underlying stress-related illnesses including mood and anxiety disorders.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the benefits of using chronic stress rodent models for depression research.
• Understand the role of astroglial pathology in depression and chronic stress.
• Discover that acting astroglia may be a new avenue for antidepressant development.

Speaker

Mounira Banasr, PhD
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto, Center of Addiction and Mental Health