Undergraduate Course: Genetic and Environmental Influences on Behaviour and Mental Health (BIME10022)
Course Outline
| School | Deanery of Biomedical Sciences |
College | College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course aims to give students an understanding of how genetic and environmental factors may influence behaviour and cognition with an emphasis on the impact of stress and aging on mental health. There will be a special focus on how reprogramming of the stress response as a result of prenatal factors during pregnancy, life experiences and ageing impacts susceptibility to psychiatric disorders. Psychiatric disorders attributable to chronic stress that will be discussed include generalised anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, impairment of cognitive ability, addiction and schizophrenia. |
| Course description |
Not entered
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
|
Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 23,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 15,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Formative Assessment Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 4,
Revision Session Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
150 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
70 %,
Coursework
30 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
In-course assessment: Students will give oral presentations in small groups; e.g. critiques of scientific papers and strategies for addressing research questions. They will be required to submit individual overviews of these presentations for assessment (30%).
Degree examination (70%).
|
| Feedback |
Feedback will be available throughout the course in many forms:
¿ Feedback from lecturers and peers on your paper presentations
¿ The mid-course feedback session to go over the mock examination essay exercise and exam techniques.
¿ A revision session for covering specific student questions about topics has been timetabled for Week 11.
¿ Feedback from the exam will be made available ¿ please contact the course administrator for more information about how and when this will be done
Formative Feedback
An essay question will be given to the class in Week 1, which you will complete under mock exam conditions in week 5. This means the essay will be timed for one hour and hand-written, but it will be open-book. Formative feedback will be given in the discussion session organised for week 7.
|
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
|
| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | Genetic and Environmental Influences on Behaviour and Mental Health | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course students should:
- understand how genetic analysis is applied to identify risk factors for complex genetic disorders
- understand how genetic variance and inheritance can influence individual risk for psychiatric illness.
- be able to describe the components of the stress response and understand how they interact to produce a co-ordinated response to a wide variety of stressors.
- understand how stress exposure at different life stages can impact upon mental health and risk for developing psychiatric illness
- be able to describe the genetic and environmental factors that impact upon cognitive decline with aging
- be able to critically read and analyse data presented within original research manuscripts and discuss the significance of the findings
- demonstrate an ability to present scientific issues to an audience and openly debate them
|
Reading List
Stress and the HPA axis
General
Joëls M & Baram TZ. (2009) The neuro-symphony of stress. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 10, 459¿466.
de Kloet ER, Joëls M & Holsboer F. (2005) Stress and the brain: from adaptation to disease. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 6, 463¿475.
Ulrich-Lai YM & Herman JP. (2009) Neural regulation of endocrine and autonomic stress responses. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 10, 397¿409.
HPA axis and energy balance
Nieuwenhuizen AG, Rutters F. (2008) The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis in the regulation of energy balance. Physio Beh 94, 169-177.
Adam TC, Epel ES. (2007) Stress, eating and the reward system. Physiol Beh 91, 449-458.
Maniam J, Morris MJ. (2012) The link between stress and feeding behaviour. Neuropharmacology 63, 97-110.
Non-genomic effects of Glucocorticoids/Neuropeptides
Groeneweg FL, Karst H, de Kloet ER, Joëls M. (2011) Rapid non-genomic effects of corticosteroids and their role in the central stress response. J Endocrinol. 209, 153-67.
Hill MN & Tasker JG. (2012) Endocannabinoid signaling, glucocorticoid-mediated negative feedback, and regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Neuroscience. 204, 5-16.
Rotzinger S, Lovejoy DA, Tan LA. (2010) Behavioral effects of neuropeptides in rodent models of depression and anxiety. Peptides. 31736-56.
Genetics of Common Complex Psychiatric Diseases
Further reading to be supplied during lecture
Genes and Mental Illness
Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. (2014) Biological insights from 108 schizophrenia-associated genetic loci. Nature (in press ¿ please email Pauline Jamieson for PDF if not available by time of class)
Glucocorticoids and Depression
Further reading to be supplied during lecture
CRF and Ucns
Zorrilla EP, Logrip ML, Koob GF. (2014) Corticotropin releasing factor: a key role in the neurobiology of addiction. Front Neuroendocrinol. 35(2):234-44.
Fox JH, Lowry CA. (2013) Corticotropin-releasing factor-related peptides, serotonergic systems, and emotional behavior. Front Neurosci. 7:169.
Smith GW, Aubry JM, Dellu F, Contarino A, Bilezikjian LM, Gold LH, Chen R, Marchuk Y, Hauser C, Bentley CA, Sawchenko PE, Koob GF, Vale W, Lee KF. (1998) Corticotropin releasing factor receptor 1-deficient mice display decreased anxiety, impaired stress response, and aberrant neuroendocrine development. Neuron. 20, 1093-102.
Bale TL, Contarino A, Smith GW, Chan R, Gold LH, Sawchenko PE, Koob GF, Vale WW, Lee KF. (2000) Mice deficient for corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor-2 display anxiety-like behaviour and are hypersensitive to stress. Nat Genet. 24, 410-4.
5-HT and NA
Itoi K, Sugimoto N. (2010) The brainstem noradrenergic systems in stress, anxiety and depression. J Neuroendocrinol. 22, 355-61.
Greenwood BN, Fleshner M (2008) Exercise, learned helplessness, and the stress-resistant brain. Neuromolecular Med. 10, 81-98.
Chen GL & Miller GM. Advances in tryptophan hydroxylase-2 gene expression regulation: new insights into serotonin-stress interaction and clinical implications. (2012) Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 159B, 152-71.
Developmental Programming of Psychiatric Disease
Weinstock M. (2001) Alterations induced by gestational stress in brain morphology and behaviour of the offspring. Prog Neurobiol 65, 427-451.
Harris A, Seckl J. (2011) Glucocorticosteroids, prenatal stress and the programming of disease. Horm Behav 59, 279-289.
Welberg LA, Seckl JR. (2001) Prenatal stress, glucocorticoids and the programming of the brain. J Neuroendocrinol 13, 113-128.
Nederhof E, Schimdt MV. (2012) Mismatch or cumulative stress: towards an integrated hypothesis of programming effects. Physiol Behav 106, 691-700.
Intrauterine Programming
Bale TL, Baram TZ, Brown AS, Goldstein JM, Insel TR, McCarthy MM, Nemeroff CB, Reyes TM, Simerly RB, Susser ES, Nestler EJ. (2010) Early life programming and neurodevelopmental disorders. Biol Psychiatry. 68, 314-319
Dunn GA, Morgan CP, Bale TL. (2011) Sex-specificity in transgenerational epigenetic programming. Horm Behav. 59, 290-295
Maccari S, Krugers HJ, Morley-Fletcher S, Szyf M, Brunton PJ. (2014) The consequences of early life adversity: neurobiological, behavioural and epigenetic adaptations. J Neuroendocrinol. EPub Jul 15.
Stress and Cognition
De Kloet, E.R et al (1999) Stress and Cognition: are corticosteroids good or bad guys? Trends in Neurosci 22, 422-426.
McGaugh JL, Roozendaal B. (2002) Role of adrenal stress hormones in forming lasting memories in the brain. Curr Opin Neurobiol 12, 205-210.
Kim JJ, Diamond DM. (2002) The stressed hippocampus, synaptic plasticity and lost memories. Nature Review Neurosci 3, 453-62.
Roozendaal, B. et al (2009) Stress, memory and the amygdala. Nature Review Neurosci 10, 423-433.
Stress and the Aging Brain
McEwen BS, de Leon MJ, Lupien SJ et al (1999) Corticosteroids, the aging brain and cognition. Trends Endocrin Met 10, 92-96
Sapolsky RM. (1999) Glucocorticoids, stress and their adverse neurological effects: relevance to ageing. Exp. Gerontology 34, 721-732
de Kloet ER, Joels M, Holsboer F. (2005) Stress and the brain: from adaptation to disease. Nat Rev Neurosci. 6, 463-75.
Herbert J, Goodyer IM, Grossman AB, Hastings MH, de Kloet ER, Lightman SL, Lupien SJ, Roozendaal B, Seckl JR. (2006) Do corticosteroids damage the brain? J Neuroendocrinol 18, 393-411.
DISC1, environment and schizophrenia
Cash-Padgett T, Jaaro-Peled H. (2013) DISC1 mouse models as a tool to decipher gene-environment interactions in psychiatric disorders. Front Behav Neurosci 7:113. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00113
Dilirium
Maclullich AM, Ferguson KJ, Miller T, de Rooij SE, Cunningham C. (2008) Unravelling the pathophysiology of delirium: a focus on the role of aberrant stress responses. J Psychosom Res. 65, 229-38.
Maclullich AM, Anand A, Davis DH, Jackson T, Barugh AJ, Hall RJ, Ferguson KJ, Meagher DJ, Cunningham C. (2013) New horizons in the pathogenesis, assessment and management of delirium. Age Ageing. 42, 667-74.
Pandharipande PP, Girard TD, Jackson JC, Morandi A, Thompson JL, Pun BT, Brummel NE, Hughes CG, Vasilevskis EE, Shintani AK, Moons KG, Geevarghese SK, Canonico A, Hopkins RO, Bernard GR, Dittus RS, Ely EW; BRAIN-ICU Study Investigators. (2013) Long-term cognitive impairment after critical illness. N Engl J Med 369,1306-16.
MacLullich AM, Beaglehole A, Hall RJ, Meagher DJ. (2009) Delirium and long-term cognitive impairment. Int Rev Psychiatry 21, 30-42.
Cunningham C, Maclullich AM. (2013) At the extreme end of the psychoneuroimmunological spectrum: delirium as a maladaptive sickness behaviour response. Brain Behav Immun 28, 1-13.
Genetics of Cognitive Aging
Harris SE, Deary IJ. (2011) The genetics of cognitive ability and cognitive ageing in healthy older people. Trends Cogn Sci. 15, 388-394.
Davies G, et al. (2014). A genome-wide association study implicates the APOE locus in nonpathological cognitive ageing. Mol Psychiatry. 19, 76-87.
Alzheimers Disease
Bettens K, Sleegers K, Van Broeckhoven C. (2013) Genetic insights in Alzheimer's disease. Lancet Neurol.12, 92-104.
Karch CM, Cruchaga C, Goate AM. (2014) Alzheimer's Disease Genetics: From the Bench to the Clinic. Neuron. 83,11-26.
Epigenetics and Psychiatric Disorders
Dempster E, Viana J, Pidsley R, Mill J. (2012) Epigenetic studies of schizophrenia: progress, predicaments, and promises for the future. Schizophr Bull 39, 11-16.
Stress and the Aging Brain
McEwen BS, de Leon MJ, Lupien SJ et al (1999) Corticosteroids, the aging brain and cognition. Trends Endocrin Met 10, 92-96
Sapolsky RM. (1999) Glucocorticoids, stress and their adverse neurological effects: relevance to ageing. Exp. Gerontology 34, 721-732
de Kloet ER, Joels M, Holsboer F. (2005) Stress and the brain: from adaptation to disease. Nat Rev Neurosci. 6, 463-75.
Herbert J, Goodyer IM, Grossman AB, Hastings MH, de Kloet ER, Lightman SL, Lupien SJ, Roozendaal B, Seckl JR. (2006) Do corticosteroids damage the brain? J Neuroendocrinol 18, 393-411.
DISC1, environment and schizophrenia
Cash-Padgett T, Jaaro-Peled H. (2013) DISC1 mouse models as a tool to decipher gene-environment interactions in psychiatric disorders. Front Behav Neurosci 7:113. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00113
Dilirium
Maclullich AM, Ferguson KJ, Miller T, de Rooij SE, Cunningham C. (2008) Unravelling the pathophysiology of delirium: a focus on the role of aberrant stress responses. J Psychosom Res. 65, 229-38.
Maclullich AM, Anand A, Davis DH, Jackson T, Barugh AJ, Hall RJ, Ferguson KJ, Meagher DJ, Cunningham C. (2013) New horizons in the pathogenesis, assessment and management of delirium. Age Ageing. 42, 667-74.
Pandharipande PP, Girard TD, Jackson JC, Morandi A, Thompson JL, Pun BT, Brummel NE, Hughes CG, Vasilevskis EE, Shintani AK, Moons KG, Geevarghese SK, Canonico A, Hopkins RO, Bernard GR, Dittus RS, Ely EW; BRAIN-ICU Study Investigators. (2013) Long-term cognitive impairment after critical illness. N Engl J Med 369,1306-16.
MacLullich AM, Beaglehole A, Hall RJ, Meagher DJ. (2009) Delirium and long-term cognitive impairment. Int Rev Psychiatry 21, 30-42.
Cunningham C, Maclullich AM. (2013) At the extreme end of the psychoneuroimmunological spectrum: delirium as a maladaptive sickness behaviour response. Brain Behav Immun 28, 1-13.
Genetics of Cognitive Aging
Harris SE, Deary IJ. (2011) The genetics of cognitive ability and cognitive ageing in healthy older people. Trends Cogn Sci. 15, 388-394.
Davies G, et al. (2014). A genome-wide association study implicates the APOE locus in nonpathological cognitive ageing. Mol Psychiatry. 19, 76-87.
Alzheimers Disease
Bettens K, Sleegers K, Van Broeckhoven C. (2013) Genetic insights in Alzheimer's disease. Lancet Neurol.12, 92-104.
Karch CM, Cruchaga C, Goate AM. (2014) Alzheimer's Disease Genetics: From the Bench to the Clinic. Neuron. 83,11-26.
Epigenetics and Psychiatric Disorders
Dempster E, Viana J, Pidsley R, Mill J. (2012) Epigenetic studies of schizophrenia: progress, predicaments, and promises for the future. Schizophr Bull 39, 11-16. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Genetics, environment, stress, behaviour, mental health |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Pauline Jamieson
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Caroline Morris
Tel: (0131 6)51 3255
Email: |
|
© Copyright 2015 The University of Edinburgh - 27 July 2015 10:42 am
|
University Homepage