What changes in the brain can stress cause at an early age – it is more dangerous than traumatic brain injury

Stressful situations in young children alter the activation levels of many more genes in the brain than traumatic brain injury.

About it writes Medical Xpress, citing the results of a study presented at the annual meeting of Neuroscience 2023. Scientists from Ohio State University concluded that Stress in young children has negative effects on health later in life. Katherine Lenz, co-author of the study, says:

“We found that many more genes were differentially expressed following early stress manipulation than after traumatic brain injury. Stress is a really powerful factor and we shouldn't underestimate its impact on the developing brain.”

The experiment was conducted on rats. For 14 days, the scientists separated newborn rats from their mothers for a short time every day. This caused stress, as an imitation of an adverse childhood experience. On the 15th day, some rats with and without stress were given a head injury similar to a concussion under anesthesia. Four groups of rodents were identified – only with stress, only with a traumatic brain injury, with stress and injury, and uninjured. The scientists then studied changes in gene expression in the hippocampus*.

Stress alone and in combination with traumatic brain injury activated pathways in excitatory and inhibitory neurons associated with plasticity. This refers to the brain's ability to adapt to all kinds of changes.

Both conditions also affected signaling associated with oxytocin, a hormone associated with maternal behavior and social bonding. Stress alone and in combination with traumatic brain injury activated the oxytocin pathway, but only traumatic brain injury suppressed it.

The scientists subsequently tested the rats' behavior as adults. Animals that experienced stress at an early age were more likely to venture out into wide open spaces, which is exactly the kind of place that typically makes rodents vulnerable to predators. Study co-author Michaela Breach explained:

“Overall, this suggests that they may be more risk-taking later in life, which is consistent with data in humans that show that early life stress can increase the risk of developing certain conditions such as ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), which can be characterized by risky behavior, or substance use disorders.”

Evidence of the detrimental effects of early life stress highlights the need to address adverse childhood experiences. Katherine Lenz says:

“Things like social support and development can buffer the effects of early life stress – this has been shown in animal models and in humans. I don't think it can be overstated how damaging early life stressors can be if left unaddressed.”

*The hippocampus is a paired structure located in the temporal regions of the hemispheres. The hippocampus performs the function of short-term memory and is responsible for the subsequent transfer of information into long-term memory.

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