@article{BoddenRichterSchreiberetal.2015,
  author    = {Bodden, Carina and Richter, S. Helene and Schreiber, Rebecca S. and Kloke, Vanessa and Gerß, Joachim and Palme, Rupert and Lesch, Klaus-Peter and Lewejohann, Lars and Kaiser, Sylvia and Sachser, Norbert},
  title     = {Benefits of adversity?! How life history affects the behavioral profile of mice varying in serotonin transporter genotype},
  series = {Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience},
  volume    = {9},
  journal   = {Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience},
  number    = {47},
  doi       = {10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00047},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-143723},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Behavioral profiles are influenced by both positive and negative experiences as well as the genetic disposition. Traditionally, accumulating adversity over lifetime is considered to predict increased anxiety like behavior ("allostatic load"). The alternative "mismatch hypothesis" suggests increased levels of anxiety if the early environment differs from the later-life environment. Thus, there is a need for a whole-life history approach to gain a deeper understanding of how behavioral profiles are shaped. The aim of this study was to elucidate the effects of life history on the behavioral profile of mice varying in serotonin transporter (5-HIT) genotype, an established mouse model of increased anxiety-like behavior. For this purpose, mice grew up under either adverse or beneficial conditions during early phases of life. In adulthood, they were further subdivided so as to face a situation that either matched or mismatched the condition experienced so far, resulting in four different life histories. Subsequently, mice were tested for their anxiety-like and exploratory behavior. The main results were: (1) Life history profoundly modulated the behavioral profile. Surprisingly, mice that experienced early beneficial and later escapable adverse conditions showed less anxiety-like and more exploratory behavior compared to mice of other life histories. (2) Genotype significantly influenced the behavioral profile, with homozygous 5-HTT knockout mice displaying highest levels of anxiety-like and lowest levels of exploratory behavior. Our findings concerning life history indicate that the absence of adversity does not necessarily cause lower levels of anxiety than accumulating adversity. Rather, some adversity may be beneficial, particularly when following positive events. Altogether, we conclude that for an understanding of behavioral profiles, it is not sufficient to look at experiences during single phases of life, but the whole life history has to be considered.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KuhnScharfenortSchuemannetal.2016,
  author    = {Kuhn, Manuel and Scharfenort, Robert and Sch{\"u}mann, Dirk and Schiele, Miriam A. and M{\"u}nsterk{\"o}tter, Anna L. and Deckert, J{\"u}rgen and Domschke, Katharina and Haaker, Jan and Kalisch, Raffael and Pauli, Paul and Reif, Andreas and Romanos, Marcel and Zwanzger, Peter and Lonsdorf, Tina B.},
  title     = {Mismatch or allostatic load? Timing of life adversity differentially shapes gray matter volume and anxious temperament},
  series = {Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience},
  volume    = {11},
  journal   = {Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience},
  number    = {4},
  doi       = {10.1093/scan/nsv137},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-189645},
  pages     = {537-547},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Traditionally, adversity was defined as the accumulation of environmental events (allostatic load). Recently however, a mismatch between the early and the later (adult) environment (mismatch) has been hypothesized to be critical for disease development, a hypothesis that has not yet been tested explicitly in humans. We explored the impact of timing of life adversity (childhood and past year) on anxiety and depression levels (N = 833) and brain morphology (N = 129). Both remote (childhood) and proximal (recent) adversities were differentially mirrored in morphometric changes in areas critically involved in emotional processing (i.e. amygdala/hippocampus, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, respectively). The effect of adversity on affect acted in an additive way with no evidence for interactions (mismatch). Structural equation modeling demonstrated a direct effect of adversity on morphometric estimates and anxiety/depression without evidence of brain morphology functioning as a mediator. Our results highlight that adversity manifests as pronounced changes in brain morphometric and affective temperament even though these seem to represent distinct mechanistic pathways. A major goal of future studies should be to define critical time periods for the impact of adversity and strategies for intervening to prevent or reverse the effects of adverse childhood life experiences.},
  language  = {en}
}