Alterations in Astrocytic Regulation of Excitation and Inhibition by Stress Exposure and in Severe Psychopathology

Dysregulation of excitatory and inhibitory signaling is commonly observed in major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, often targeted by psychological pharmacological treatment methods. The balance excitation inhibition highly sensitive to severe stress, one the strongest risk factors for disorders. role astrocytes regulating now widely recognized; however, specific involvement context disorders with a history significant stress exposure remains unclear. In this review, we summarize how regulate psychopathology, focus on PFC, brain area implicated psychopathology. We first preclinical models demonstrate that duration (particularly acute vs chronic stress) key shaping astrocyte function downstream behavior. then provide hypothesis are involved stress-associated cortical imbalance, discuss directly contributes phenotypes psychopathologies, suggestions future research. highlight target understand treat dysregulation associated stress-related