Faculty

Bernhard Luscher

Emeritus Professor of Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

362A Frear North
University Park, PA 16802

Email bxl25@psu.edu
Phone 814-865-5549

Overview

Function of GABAergic synaptic transmission in health and disease, with emphasis of stress based psychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorders and mechanisms of antidepressant drug action

Centers & Institutes

Center for Cellular Dynamics
Center for Molecular Investigation of Neurological Disorders
Neuroscience Institute

Department of Biology Faculty Profile
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

New research finds sex-specific regions of the brain can relieve the detrimental effects of chronic stress in male and female mice. Left: Schematic showing a cortical microcircuit with three types of interneurons expressing somatostatin (SST), parvalbumin (PV) or vasointestinal peptide (VIP) and their distinct patterns of innervation of glutamatergic output neurons (PNs), with thin lines representing axons that send chemical signals and the thicker lines of PNs representing dendrites that receive information. There is selective innervation of the distal ends of PN dendrites by axons of SST neurons. Right: Increased activity of SST neurons by genetically induced disinhibition, on top right, or by chemogenetic activation of SST neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex, on bottom right, leads to stress resilience and facilitates the reversal of the detrimental behavioral effects of stress exposure in male but not female mice. Credit: Bernhard Lüscher / Penn State. Creative Commons

December 16, 2024

Brain regions that relieve effects of chronic stress in mice differ based on sex

Schematic of cortical microcircuit showing connections of interneurons and output neurons

December 10, 2024

Relieving chronic stress in the brains of male and female mice

August 03, 2023

GABA Receptors Unveiled as Potential Antidepressant Targets

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