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| Little Pokey, the Kosher mouse |
This is a serious study, but c'mon, you know I had to mess around with my comments here and there. Please forgive me. In addition, it should be rather easy to see where my brain flushings jumped in.
Israeli and German researchers have discovered something we all knew while some of us refused to admit: male and female brains are affected differently by stress.
The brains of males and females respond differently to stress, while this may pave the way for personalized therapies regarding stress-related disorders.
In the world of today, stress is abundant and constantly getting worse, and this puts a serious strain on society, Stress affects both men and women, but differently and they deal with it differently, however the differences are not completely understood. Historically, lab mice used to study stress have used male mice, possibly leading to biases in the findings.
The brains of males and females respond differently to stress, while this may pave the way for personalized therapies regarding stress-related disorders.
In the world of today, stress is abundant and constantly getting worse, and this puts a serious strain on society, Stress affects both men and women, but differently and they deal with it differently, however the differences are not completely understood. Historically, lab mice used to study stress have used male mice, possibly leading to biases in the findings.
Scientists from Israel and Germany sought to address this problem by investigating how stress affects the sexes differently at the cellular level.
Israeli researchers working in the laboratory of Dr. Alon Chen of the Rehovot-based Weizmann Institute of Science were joined by German researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry and the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology.
“Our findings show that, when it comes to stress-related health conditions, from depression to diabetes, it’s very important to take the sex variable into account, since it has a significant impact on how different brain cells respond to stress,” Chen explained.
“Our findings show that, when it comes to stress-related health conditions, from depression to diabetes, it’s very important to take the sex variable into account, since it has a significant impact on how different brain cells respond to stress,” Chen explained.
Clinical trials were used up until the 1980s on men alone, as it was thought that using women in the trials was unnecessary, and would complicate the research as it would then bring into play new variables such as hormonal cycles and menstruation.
Dr. Elena Brivio led the researchers of the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry analyzing brain activity in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, a critical part of the central nervous system associated with the stress response. They used state of the art techniques that allowed them to examine gene expression on over 35,000 individual brain cells--around 34,980 more brain cells than is currently found in the White House. This technique provided never before seen detail into the differences between how males and females perceive and process stress.
“By sequencing the RNA [ribonucleic acid] molecules in that part of the brain on the level of the individual cell, we were able to map the stress response in male and female mice along three main axes: how each cell type in that part of the brain responds to stress, how each cell type previously exposed to chronic stress responds to a new stress experience and how these responses differ between males and females,” Dr. Brivio said.
The findings showed, among other things, that certain brain cells respond differently to stress in males and females. The most significant difference was found in a type of brain cell called the oligodendrocyte – a subtype of glial cell that provides support to nerve cells and plays an important role in regulating brain activity.
In males, exposure to stress conditions, especially chronic stress, changed not only the gene expression in the oligodendrocyte cells and their interactions with surrounding nerve cells but also their structure. In females, however, no significant change was observed in these cells, and they were not susceptible to stress exposure. However, the end result in humans showed that under great stress, men are more likely than women to use foul language, while woman were more likely to shop.
“Even if a study does not specifically focus on the differences between males and females, it’s essential to include female animals in the research, especially in neuroscience and behavioral science, just as it is important to implement the most sensitive research methods, in order to obtain as complete a picture of brain activity as possible,” Brivio said.
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The findings showed, among other things, that certain brain cells respond differently to stress in males and females. The most significant difference was found in a type of brain cell called the oligodendrocyte – a subtype of glial cell that provides support to nerve cells and plays an important role in regulating brain activity.
In males, exposure to stress conditions, especially chronic stress, changed not only the gene expression in the oligodendrocyte cells and their interactions with surrounding nerve cells but also their structure. In females, however, no significant change was observed in these cells, and they were not susceptible to stress exposure. However, the end result in humans showed that under great stress, men are more likely than women to use foul language, while woman were more likely to shop.
“Even if a study does not specifically focus on the differences between males and females, it’s essential to include female animals in the research, especially in neuroscience and behavioral science, just as it is important to implement the most sensitive research methods, in order to obtain as complete a picture of brain activity as possible,” Brivio said.
