Stress in adolescence affects the thalamus, a brain region affected in diseases such as depression and schizophrenia. Stress in adolescence affects the thalamus, a brain region affected in illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia

Authors of the article, together with Juan Nácher. (From left to right: Juan Nác
Authors of the article, together with Juan Nácher. (From left to right: Juan Nácher, Julia Alcaide, Clara Bueno, Marta Pérez and Esther Castillo).
Research staff from the Universitat de València (UV), the INCLIVA Health Research Institute, the Hospital Clínic Universitari of Valencia, and the Centre for Biomedical Research Centre Network in Mental Health (CIBERSAM) of the Carlos III Institute of Health, have described how stress during adolescence modifies the behaviour and circuits of the thalamus, a region of the brain that is essential for processing information from outside and is involved in complex cognitive processes. The study has been published in the journal Neurobiology of disease.

Juan Nácher, full-time university professor of Cell Biology at the UV and coordinator of the Psychiatry and Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Group at INCLIVA, researcher of the G23 of CIBERSAM and author of the article, explains that ¨the thalamus is a very interesting region because it has been seen to be affected in various psychiatric diseases such as depression or schizophrenia¨ and our own work with neuroimaging in patients shows that this is the case. In the current study we primarily analysed inhibitory neural circuits that are critical for the control of thalamus function and demonstrated, using mice, that adverse experiences during adolescence have a major impact on the thalamus, especially in females.

The main objective of INCLIVA’s Psychiatry and Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Group is precisely to increase knowledge about mental illnesses, particularly depression and schizophrenia. "These are very prevalent diseases, suffered, respectively, by more than 1% and 5% of the global population. These are serious diseases that are still poorly understood and place a great burden on both the patient and his or her environment," explains Nácher.

The research group is also studying new therapeutic mechanisms that may help to reduce symptoms and improve patients’ lives. He is currently specifically investigating the impact that adverse experiences in early life (childhood and adolescence) may have on the development of depression and psychosis in adulthood, from a multidisciplinary perspective, using animal models, postmortem tissue from patients, neuroimaging, genetics and psychological assessments.

The group is also exploring new diagnostic procedures that allow direct or indirect access to the brain of patients, both through neuroimaging analysis and through the study of genes and molecules in the blood, through olfactory epithelial cells that share many common characteristics with neurons, or through the generation of neuronal lines from blood cells. The group also participates in initiatives aimed at promoting suicide prevention and develops strategies to reduce its incidence.

For the development of the group’s research, platforms such as INCLIVA’s Precision Medicine Unit and scientific-technical equipment, both from INCLIVA and the UV, are commonly used. The group, which is part of the cross-disciplinary programs of Rare Diseases and Neurological Impairment of INCLIVA, maintains abundant national and international collaborations for the development of current projects.

It currently has current projects from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Generalitat Valenciana (Prometeo Programme), the VLC-Bioclinic programme and the Alicia Koplowitz and Mutua Madrileña Foundations

Alcaide, J., Gramuntell, Y., Klimczak, P., Bueno-Fernandez, C., Garcia-Verellen, E., Guicciardini, C., Sandi, C., Castillo-Gómez, E., Crespo, C., Perez-Rando, M., & Nacher, J. (2024). Long term effects of peripubertal stress on the thalamic reticular nucleus of female and male mice. Neurobiology of disease 200, 106642. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nd.2­024.106642