By Michelle Jaffee
In a webinar on Aug. 24, two University of Florida neuroscientists will discuss their newly published findings of a brain signaling mechanism linking secretion of stress hormones with elevations in blood pressure in rodents.
Eric Krause, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the Center for Integrative Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease, and Khalid El Saafien, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in UF’s College of Pharmacy, will lead an interactive session at 12 p.m. EST Tuesday, Aug. 24 to discuss their paper “Identification of Novel Cross-Talk between the Neuroendocrine and Autonomic Stress Axes Controlling Blood Pressure” with Journal of Neuroscience Editor-in-Chief Marina Picciotto, Ph.D.
Society for Neuroscience members can log in to access the webinar. For more information, email khalid.elsaafien@cop.ufl.edu.
In their paper, published May 26 with a team of neuroscientists at UF and Georgia State University, the authors describe a signaling mechanism within the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus linking excitation of neurons producing stress hormones with excitation of neurons controlling sympathetic nervous system activity and blood pressure.
“The broad implication is that the signaling mechanisms revealed by our study could be targeted to relieve stress-related pathologies, like affective disorders and hypertension,” Krause said.