Elena Y. Demireva - Research Abstract

Elena Y. Demireva, PhD

Current Area of Research:

Depression and anxiety are among the leading causes of disability in the world, and significantly compromise patients’ productivity and quality of life. I see a great need for understanding the etiology of these mental disorders and generating new and effective treatments for them. In order to understand the origins of psychiatric disease, I study mouse models of depression and anxiety. In these models, a transient, early-life treatment with fluoxetine leads to depression- and anxiety-like behavioral phenotypes in adulthood. Fluoxetine blocks the serotonin transporter and results in elevated levels of serotonin in the brain during the developmental treatment window. This increased serotonergic tone likely causes changes in neuronal circuit development and/or maturation which are responsible for the changes in affective behavior observed in the adult animal.

To investigate the mechanisms by which serotonin exerts its developmental effects, I have focused on studying neuronal circuits in the prefrontal cortex which express the serotonin receptor subtype 2A (Htr2a). The expression patterns and the known involvement of this receptor in multiple psychiatric disorders, make it an important candidate target for the action of serotonin during brain development. The goal of my studies is to uncover molecular, anatomical and functional changes in Htr2a neuronal circuits that occur as a result of developmental changes caused by increased serotonin, and to pinpoint the role that Htr2a signaling plays in this process. I am using mouse genetics, behavioral assays, neuropharmacology, neuroanatomy and molecular biology approaches to achieve this goal. I am focusing specifically on Htr2a neuronal populations in the prefrontal cortex because this cortical region is thought to control complex emotional and cognitive behaviors that are affected in psychiatric disease.

This abstract is the Copyright 2011 © of Elena Y. Demireva. All rights reserved.