5) Brain metabolism alterations by ELS:

ELS altered purine & glutamate metabolism pathways in the BLA, dHIP, & vHIP.

Sex differences in these pathways might explain distinct behavioral outcomes.

Linking brain metabolism to stress response is key!

4) 🚀 Using the open-source package DeepOF, we performed unsupervised analysis of fear behaviors. This revealed novel sex-specific patterns, in which females showed more active fear response (darting-like behavior) via explorative behaviors, that males did not show.

3) 🔍 Fear memory formation is altered on freezing:

ELS exposure reduces freezing behavior during fear retrieval especially in males.

2) 🧬 We show that ELS affects HPA-axis regulation differently in males & females:

Females: Persistent body weight effects & elevated baseline CORT early on

Males: Altered adrenal weight & delayed recovery of HPA-axis function

Sex matters in stress response!

1) Early life stress (ELS) increases vulnerability to stress-related disorders, such as PTSD, often with sex-specific impacts. Using a mouse model, we explored how ELS alters:
- HPA-axis regulation
- Fear memory acquisition & retrieval using
- Brain metabolomic pathways