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Finding translation in stress research

Nature Neuroscience volume 18, pages 1347–1352 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

In our ongoing efforts to advance understanding of human diseases, translational research across rodents and humans on stress-related mental disorders stands out as a field that is producing discoveries that illuminate mechanisms of risk and pathophysiology at a brisk rate. Here we offer a Perspective on how a productive translational research dialog between preclinical models and clinical studies of these disorders is being powered by an ever-developing appreciation of the shared neural circuits and genetic architecture that moderate the response to stress across species. Working from these deep foundations, we discuss the approaches, both traditional and innovative, that have the potential to deliver a new generation of risk biomarkers and therapeutic strategies for stress-related disorders.

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Figure 1: A brief timeline of some major milestones—past, present and future—related to the observation, classification and scientific study of stress and stress-related disorders.

Marina Corral Spence/Nature Publishing Group

Figure 2: Preexisting variability in a highly conserved neural circuitry mediating stress responsiveness predicts vulnerability for stress-related dysfunction.

Marina Corral Spence/Nature Publishing Group

Figure 3

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Acknowledgements

A.R.H. is supported by Duke University and by US National Institutes of Health grants R01DA033369 and R01AG049789. A.H. is supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Intramural Research Program, the Henry Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, and the Department of Defense in the Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine.

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  1. Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Laboratory of NeuroGenetics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA

    Ahmad R Hariri

  2. Laboratory of Behavioral and Genomic Neuroscience, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland, USA

    Andrew Holmes

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Correspondence to Ahmad R Hariri.

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Hariri, A., Holmes, A. Finding translation in stress research. Nat Neurosci 18, 1347–1352 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.4111

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