Marian Joëls
Position: Professor of Neuroscience
E-mail: m.joels@umcutrecht.nl
Phone: (+31) (0)88 75 68138
Phone secretariat: (+31) (0)88 75 68847
Henk Karst
Position: Senior Researcher in Neuroscience
E-mail: h.karst@umcutrecht.nl
Phone: (+31) (0)88 75 68821
Phone secretariat: (+31) (0)88 75 68847
RESEARCH
Aims:
The focus of this group is on stress hormone actions in the brain. We aim i) to delineate the cellular and network effects of stress hormones in limbic brain regions, ii) to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms and iii) to examine the functional consequences for behavior, in health and disease. By linking investigations at multiple levels of complexity we try to come to a full comprehension, from the molecular to the network and behavioral level.
Experimental strategy and key results:
Stress hormones on the short term are necessary to adapt to challenges and restore homeostasis. Behavioral changes form part of a functional stress response. In collaboration with other groups we study the effect of stress exposure on (emotional) memory formation and executive functions in humans. To understand the underlying mechanisms we use animal models, to determine how exposure to stress hormones, in particular corticosteroids, changes the function and shape of cells / networks in the hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex. Moreover, we are interested to see how early life environment and unpredictable stressors in adulthood affect limbic responses to stress hormones and how this may precipitate stress-related disorders.
RECENT KEY PUBLICATIONS
1: Joëls M, Baram TZ. (2009) The Neuro-symphony of stress. Nature Rev Neurosci. 10, 459-466.
2: Henckens MJ, Hermans EJ, Pu Z, Joëls M, Fernández G. (2009) Stressed memories: how acute stress affects memory formation in humans, J Neurosci. 29, 10111-10119.
3: Champagne DL, Bagot RC, van Hasselt F, Ramakers G, Meaney MJ, de Kloet ER, Joëls M, Krugers H. (2008) Maternal care and hippocampal plasticity: evidence for experience-dependent structural plasticity, altered synaptic functioning, and differential responsiveness to glucocorticoids and stress. J Neurosci. 28, 6037-6045.
4: Joëls M, Karst H, DeRijk R, de Kloet ER. (2008) The coming out of the brain mineralocorticoid receptor. Trends Neurosci. 31, 1-7.
5: Karst H, Berger S, Turiault M, Tronche F, Schütz G, Joëls M. (2005) Mineralocorticoid receptors are indispensable for nongenomic modulation of hippocampal glutamate transmission by corticosterone. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 102, 19204-19207.
