Acute and long-term impact of stressors on the stress axis and cognitive performance

Abstract

Military service members are exposed to a wide range of stressors as part of their work assignments during training or during deployment. Operational effectiveness is crucial to an effective military and this effectiveness is dependent on its personnel. Naval service members endorse higher stress when deployed at sea for training or in combat, and as a cohort experience unique stressors when compared with those in other branches of the military. The impact of high stress levels decrease performance and may be physiologically and psychologically dysregulating. In particular, a sailor experiencing a mass casualty at sea is under significant stress. How an individual cope to stressors is not well understood. Survival is dependent on cognitive and physiological acuity. Yet, the acute and chronic effects of levels of stressors are not well understood. The experience of mass casualty is compounded by numerous factors that include lack of sleep and the sailor may be isolated under these conditions while waiting for rescue. The goal of this proposal using the mouse as model, is to determine the impact of these stressors on cognitive function and to develop potential biomarkersby assessing markers of stress and stress-related neural circuitry. The objective is to determine the intersectionality of sleep restriction and isolation in a mouse model that simulates the survival at sea scenario on cognitive outcomes in both males and females. The study proposes to also determine biomarkers of the stressor outcome. Successful completion of this project will provide insight into the sex specific alterations in the acute and long-term cognitive performance and the neurocircuitry subsequent to relevant stressors and to identify potential biomarkers that may be targers of the countermeasures against these stressors

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Aug 11, 2023
Source ID
N000142312809

Entities

People

  • Tao Yiao Wu

Organizations

  • Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine
  • Office of Naval Research
  • United States Navy

Tags

Readers

  • Naval Personnel Management
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.
  • Trauma or Military Medicine