Lab Research Interests
Dr. Vazquez's lab is interested in molecular brain mechanisms underlying long-term consequences of stress in growing organisms. We focus on the LHPA, the growth hormone axis and brain serotonin systems. As part of her interest on psychosocial stressors and behavioral alterations, Vazquez's lab has begun to study key brain areas which are part of two systems: the corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) brain system and the serotonin system in normally developing rats and rats subjected to maternal deprivation. We also studies these systems in rats subjected to steroid exposure during the first week of life. The tapering steroid injection model mimicks what is typically done in neonatal intensive care units across the nation. At the clinical level, Dr.Vazquez studies children with PSD. She also studies women who are at risk for depression (as a model of prenatal stress) and their infants once they are born. To tie in the animal experiments with her interest on PSD, she has characterized animal models of chronic stress in pre-weanling and weanling rats which results in significant growth retardation and behaviors consistent with anxiety. The elucidation of the neurobiology of these models is one of the goals of the Dr.Vazquez's lab.
There are six major research projects in our lab:![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
||
|
||
![]() |
![]() |
|
![]() |
![]() ![]() |
Recent Publications:
Copy
Right ©2006, MSII 3737, All Rights Reserved
|