title: Stress and the adolescent brain: Amygdala-prefrontal cortex circuitry and ventral striatum as developmental targets.
abstract: Adolescence is a time in development when significant changes occur in affective neurobiology. These changes provide a prolonged period of plasticity to prepare the individual for independence. However, they also render the system highly vulnerable to the effects of environmental stress exposures. Here, we review the human literature on the associations between stress-exposure and developmental changes in amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and ventral striatal dopaminergic systems during the adolescent period. Despite the vast differences in types of adverse exposures presented in his review, these neurobiological systems appear consistently vulnerable to stress experienced during development, providing putative mechanisms to explain why affective processes that emerge during adolescence are particularly sensitive to environmental influences.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University, Department of Psychology, 1190 Amsterdam Avenue MC 5501, New York, NY 10027, United States. Electronic address: nlt7@columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Nim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tottenham
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, 1285 Franz Hall BOX 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, United States. Electronic address: agalvan@ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Galván
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000679:Amygdala; D006801:Humans; D009446:Neurobiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D066328:Ventral Striatum
keywords: Adolescence; Amygdala; Human; Prefrontal cortex; Stress; Ventral striatum