Chronic Stress in Adolescents and Its Neurobiological and Psychopathological Consequences: An RDoC Perspective

Abstract

The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative provides a strategy for classifying psychopathology based on behavioral dimensions and neurobiological measures. Neurodevelopment is an orthogonal dimension in the current RDoC framework; however, it has not yet been fully incorporated into the RDoC approach. A combination of both a neurodevelopmental and RDoC approach offers a multidimensional perspective for understanding the emergence of psychopathology during development. Environmental influence (e.g., stress) has a profound impact on the risk for development of psychiatric illnesses. It has been shown that chronic stress interacts with the developing brain, producing significant changes in neural circuits that eventually increase the susceptibility for development of psychiatric disorders. This review highlights effects of chronic stress on the adolescent brain, as adolescence is a period characterized by a combination of significant brain alterations, high levels of stress, and emergence of psychopathology. The literature synthesized in this review suggests that chronic stress-induced changes in neurobiology and behavioral constructs underlie the shared vulnerability across a number of disorders in adolescence. The review particularly focuses on depression and substance use disorders; however, a similar argument can also be made for other psychopathologies, including anxiety disorders. The summarized findings underscore the need for a framework to integrate neurobiological findings from disparate psychiatric disorders and to target transdiagnostic mechanisms across disorders.

The neurobiology of depression, ketamine and rapid-acting antidepressants: Is it glutamate inhibition or activation?

“…In addition, antidepressants – known to reverse the CSP in animals – have shown efficacy in alleviating symptoms of PTSD, GAD, OCD, bipolar depression, and other disorders with a considerable chronic stress component. Here, we note that synaptic dysconnectivity could be a predisposing factor, an outcome, or a perpetuator of the psychopathology (Averill, Purohit, et al, 2017; Matosin, Cruceanu, & Binder, 2017; Sheth, McGlade, & Yurgelun-Todd, 2017; Syed & Nemeroff, 2017). Furthermore, while synaptic loss appears to be common across stress-related disorders, the location and pattern of the synaptic dysconnectivity, combined with individual characteristics (e.g., genes & environment), may be the mechanism through which CSP is associated with distinct clinical presentations and psychopathologies (Abdallah, Southwick, & Krystal, 2017; Averill, Purohit, et al, 2017; Krystal, et al, 2017).…”

Kleeb Bua Daeng, a Thai Traditional Herbal Formula, Ameliorated Unpredictable Chronic Mild Stress-Induced Cognitive Impairment in ICR Mice

“…2, and asiaticoside (3) (major active components of C. asiatica), quercetin (4), kaempferol (5), kaempferol-3-glucoside (6), rutin 7, luteolin-7-O-glucoside (8), ferulic acid (9) (major constituents of N. nucifera) were used as markers in the HPLC analysis of the KBD extract ( Figure 5). Six different concentrations of standard solutions, i.e., 5-100 µg/mL for piperine (1), 5-30 µg/mL for madecassoside (2) and asiaticoside (3), 1-6 µg/mL for ferulic acid (9), luteolin-7-O-glucoside (8), rutin 7, kaempferol-3-glucoside (6), quercetin (4), and kaempferol (5), were used. This HPLC method for the analysis of these compounds was accurate and reliable, as demonstrated by the validation results.…”

“…Accumulated evidences demonstrated that chronic stress negatively affects neural plasticity and neurogenesis which produce depressive symptom, impairment in memory and learning processes [1,2]. The deleterious effect of chronic stress is modulated by the stress hormone, cortisol/corticosterone (CORT), neurotrophins, and various neurotransmitters [3][4][5].…”

The indirect effect of peer problems on adolescent depression through nucleus accumbens volume alteration

“…Of particular interest, structural alteration (e.g., volumetric changes) in subcortical regions including the amygdala, hippocampus, and NAcc has been known to be associated with both social stress and psychopathology 9,10 . This may be because these regions have been implicated in social and emotion processing and reward-punishment processing 11,12 . These regions are also known to be sensitive to social stress 13 , and continue to develop throughout the adolescence 14 .…”