Research project PID2023-147330OA-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by FEDER, EU
Early life stress (ELS), through poverty and neglect, disrupts cortical circuit formation, producing lasting neurobehavioural deficits with marked sex differences. GABAergic interneuron dysfunction is strongly implicated in these outcomes, yet its relationship with ELS and sex-specific vulnerabilities remains unclear. This work investigates how ELS-induced alterations in GABAergic maturation drive aberrant frontolimbic activity patterns, using in vivo two-photon microscopy, pharmacogenetics, viral tracing, and computational modelling to establish the principles governing stress-dependent prefrontal circuit development.
