Our laboratory is interested in molecular brain mechanisms underlying long-term consequences of stress in growing organisms. We focus on the limbic- hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (LHPA), the growth hormone axis and brain serotonin systems. For many studies we use an animal model of chronic stress in the weaning and adolescent rat, which results in significant growth retardation. We use biochemical and molecular neuroanatomical methods to identify the regulation and circuits involved in this phenomenon. The goal is to understand the neurobiology to elucidate strategies to revert the growth retardation. There is also a body of literature that suggests that physical and emotional stressors may be intimately linked to psychopathology and drug seeking behavior. Several components of the LHPA axis have been identified as important in these processes. We are using Levine’s maternal separation animal model which alters the stress responsiveness of the developing animal during infancy to study the effect of early stress in both HPA and serotonin brain systems.

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