Tufts University Neuroscientists Jamie Maguire and Laverne Melón (IMAGE)

Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus

Tufts University Neuroscientists Jamie Maguire and Laverne Melón

Caption

Tufts University neuroscientists Jamie Maguire (left) and Laverne Melón have generated a novel preclinical model of postpartum depression and demonstrated involvement of the neuroendocrine system that mediates physiological response to stress, called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which is normally suppressed during and after pregnancy. The findings in mice provide the first empirical evidence that disruption of this system engenders behaviors that mimic postpartum depression in humans. The study appears in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.

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Anna Derian for Tufts University

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