Georgia Hodes: Sex Differences in Responses to Stress and Vulnerability to Neurological Disorders
Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson
Release Date: 09/11/2025
Georgia Hodes: Sex Differences in Responses to Stress and Vulnerability to Neurological Disorders
Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson
Chronic uncontrolled stress is a risk factor for many different diseases including mental and neurodegenerative disorders. The effects of such stress on the brain differ considerably between females and males. However, the vast majority of preclinical studies in animal models have included only males which in some cases has resulted in therapeutic interventions that are less effective in females compared to males. In this episode Georgia Hodes talks about sex differences in the effects of stress on the brain and neuroendocrine systems and how these differences can influence disease processes...
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Marian Joëls and Ron de Kloet: How the Brain Responds to Stress in Health and Mental Disorders
Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson
In stressful situations the brain communicates with the adrenal glands stimulating them to release adrenaline and cortisol. This stress responsive neuroendocrine system plays important adaptive roles by regulating energy metabolism, attention, and learning and memory. However, without a recovery period chronic uncontrolled stress such as psychosocial stress can damage neural circuits in the brain and contribute to a range of mental disorders as well as Alzheimer’s disease. In this episode I have the pleasure of talking with two pioneers in the field of stress research – Professors...
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Josh Helman: Multipronged Approaches for Preventing and Treating Alzheimer’s Dementia
Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson
Clearly demonstrated as being effective for cardiovascular disease, lifestyle medicine is becoming an important discipline for the prevention and treatment of age-related brain disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. In this episode I talk with Dr. Josh Helman about his experience working with patients at lifestyle medicine centers. He provides his views on what people can do now to reduce their risk for these brain disorders, and what the future holds in terms of therapeutic interventions. LINKS Dr. Helman’s webpage: https://drjosh.com/ Lifestyle medicine...
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Grace (Beth) Stutzmann: Pivotal Role for Calcium in Brain Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease
Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson
The calcium ion controls neuronal network activity, synapse function and synaptic plasticity, and is a fundamental mediator of learning and memory. With aging and much more so in Alzheimer’s disease the ability of neurons to properly regulate their intracellular calcium levels becomes compromised. Evidence from human and laboratory animal studies have provided compelling evidence that excessive elevation of calcium levels in neurons results in their dysfunction and degeneration in Alzheimer’s disease, as well as in Parkinson’s disease, and stroke. In this episode, I talk with...
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Andrew Dillin – Stress and Aging: Mitochondria are Hubs of Information Flow in and Between Cells
Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson
Long believed to function only as the cell’s powerhouse research is revealing that mitochondria actively control a cell’s response to various types of stress. Even more amazingly mitochondria send stress-related signals between cells. In this episode UC Berkeley Professor Andy Dillin has made major advances in understanding basic mechanisms of aging, how cells and animals respond to stress, and how the aging process can be influenced by mitochondrial responses to stress. In this episode I talk with Andy about his work and its implications for optimizing health and longevity. LINKS...
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Marc Freeman – How Astrocytes Control Neural Circuits in Brain Development, Plasticity, and Disease
Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson
While neurons and the circuits the form have been the major focus of brain research the human brain contains at least as many cells that are not neurons of which astrocytes are by far the most abundant. During the past decade there have been numerous studies that reveal novel and very active roles for astrocytes in regulating the growth of neurons, the formation and modification of synapses, the activities of neural networks, and behaviors in laboratory animals. In this episode Marc Freeman talks about the fascinating world of astrocytes including their diversity, complex morphologies, and...
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Polina Shichkova: Metabolic and Biophysical Modeling of Breakdown and Repair of the Aging Brain
Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson
Because neurons in the brain are electrically excitable and active 24/7 the brain consumes relatively large amounts of energy and must adapt to varying demands on its neural networks. The cellular and molecular complexity of the brain presents a major challenge for understanding not only its second-by-second function but also how neural networks are affected by aging and disease. In this episode Dr. Polina Schichkova talks about how large datasets on cellular energy metabolism gene expression are being used to elucidate how aging affects the brain as a whole. Her findings from analyses of data...
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Corinde Wiers: The Potential of Ketone-Based Interventions for the Treatment of Addiction
Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson
Research on substance use disorders has largely focused on understanding the key neural circuits and neurotransmitter systems that are altered, and on behavioral and pharmacological interventions. However, emerging research findings suggest that alcohol use disorder (AUD) is associated with alterations in energy metabolism and can accelerate brain aging. In this episode I talk with Dr. Corinde Wiers about substance use disorders with a focus on her recent clinical trials which show that ketone (b-hydroxybutyrate) supplementation can reduce craving for alcohol in people with AUD and can reduce...
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Henning Fenselau – Neural Circuits Controlling Appetite and Energy Metabolism and GLP-1 Actions
Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson
Appetite (hunger and satiety) is controlled by neural circuits in the brain – particularly in the hypothalamus – and their reciprocal connections to peripheral organs involved in energy metabolism (gut and liver). Understanding the structural organization of these circuits (their synaptic connections) and their neurochemistry (particularly which neurotransmitters are used at which synapses) is of fundamental importance for human health and developing new treatments for metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes. Neuroscientist Henning Fenselau at the Max Planck Institute and...
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Tessa Montague: Disappearing Act - How the Brain Controls Camouflage in Cuttlefish and Octopuses
Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson
One of the most remarkable feats of biological ‘wizardry’ in the animal kingdom is the ability of some cephalopods (octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish) to rapidly change the color, patterning, and texture of their skin so as to blend in with their background. They accomplish these feats through the linking of neural circuits in the visual system and brain to muscle cells that control the dispersion of pigment in specialized skin cells called chromatophores. But the details of the neural circuitry and the computational processes that control the camouflaging process remain largely unknown....
info_outlineChronic uncontrolled stress is a risk factor for many different diseases including mental and neurodegenerative disorders. The effects of such stress on the brain differ considerably between females and males. However, the vast majority of preclinical studies in animal models have included only males which in some cases has resulted in therapeutic interventions that are less effective in females compared to males. In this episode Georgia Hodes talks about sex differences in the effects of stress on the brain and neuroendocrine systems and how these differences can influence disease processes and treatments.
LINKS
Prof. Hodes webpage at VT:
https://neuroscience.vt.edu/our-people/research-faculty/hodes-georgia.html
Review articles:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10845083/pdf/CN-22-475.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10189838/pdf/nihms-1896436.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8630768/pdf/nihms-1528739.pdf