The impact of social defeat on the cardiovascular system in rodents
Event details
| Date | 28.03.2011 |
| Hour | 17:00 |
| Speaker | Andrea Sgoifo |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Clinical and experimental data suggest that a tight relationship exists among environmental stressors, alterations of autonomic neural regulation of cardiovascular homeostasis and cardiac morbidity and mortality. However, discrepancies in the results obtained emphasize the need for experimental research based on reliable animal stress models. Among various types of environmental challenge, social stressors are the most biologically-relevant for species with complex social organization and induce robust autonomic/endocrine activations. A number of studies performed in my lab showed that: (i) a single social defeat episode provokes a transient shift of cardiac sympathovagal balance towards sympathetic prevalence and a remarkable incidence of arrhythmias; (ii) tachycardic and arrhythmogenic effects are dampened by peripheral administration of a serotonin-1A receptor agonist (8-OH-DPAT); (iii) threat to previously-gained social dominance brings about long-term alterations of heart rate circadian rhythmicity; (iv) chronic subordination induces fibrotic damage in the ventricular myocardium.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Contact
- Carmen Sandi