Bentley Lab People

 
 
Contrary to our tendency to think about the word STRESS in a negative context, at its basic, adaptive level, the physiological response to an acute stress is actually beneficial and important for survival.  Most effects of the physiological acute stress response are mediated via glucocorticoids (cortisol, corticosterone), but these hormones alone can be detrimental at high concentrations.  Because of this, concentrations of glucocorticoid are considered to be maintained or reactive within optimal ranges that are not too high but not too low - optimal baseline concentrations, optimal maximum stress-induced concentrations, and optimal negative feedback to shut off elevated glucocorticoid release.  But how is such optimization maintained and regulated?  And in species with seasonal shifts in the glucocorticoid response profile, such as many wild birds, what regulates the changes in the seasonal response?  I am interested in how neural mechanisms may regulate this optimization of glucocorticoid release.  Specifically, I am studying the endocannabinoid system, a lipid signaling pathway that has been demonstrated to regulate the reactivity and termination of the glucocorticoid stress response.   In addition, I am also studying the role that such mechanisms play in the how the stress response pathways affect the reproductive hormone axis (via GnIH).  For this aspect, I am interested in how dysregulation of the stress response system plays a role in reproductive suppression due to chronic stress. Molly_Dickens_files/Molly.

Molly Dickens