Lab Research Interests

Dr. Vazquez's lab is interested in molecular brain mechanisms underlying long-term consequences of stress in growing organisms. We focus on the LHPA, the growth hormone axis and brain serotonin systems. As part of her interest on psychosocial stressors and behavioral alterations, Vazquez's lab has begun to study key brain areas which are part of two systems: the corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) brain system and the serotonin system in normally developing rats and rats subjected to maternal deprivation. We also studies these systems in rats subjected to steroid exposure during the first week of life. The tapering steroid injection model mimicks what is typically done in neonatal intensive care units across the nation. At the clinical level, Dr.Vazquez studies children with PSD. She also studies women who are at risk for depression (as a model of prenatal stress) and their infants once they are born. To tie in the animal experiments with her interest on PSD, she has characterized animal models of chronic stress in pre-weanling and weanling rats which results in significant growth retardation and behaviors consistent with anxiety. The elucidation of the neurobiology of these models is one of the goals of the Dr.Vazquez's lab.

Stress Response and Growth: Impact of Early Life Stress
Postnatal Stress: HPA axis and Vulnerability to Drug Use
Developmental Origins of Endocrine Dysfunctions
Depression Risk, Infant-Mother Attachment and Cortisol
Perinatal Experience and Children's Mental Health
Effects of Glucocorticoid Exposure During First Week of Life - Impact of Maternal Care on Stress Reactivity and Behavior

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), RO1 “Stress Response and Growth: Impact of Early Life Stress" PI: DM Vazquez Office of Naval Research, “Discovering the Molecular Basis of Differences in Emotional Reactivity: Gene Profiling Across the Developmental Trajectory of High and Low Responder Rats” PI: H Akil
National Institute of Drug Abuse, “Postnatal Stress: HPA axis and Vulnerability to Drug Use” PI: DM Vazquez
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, "Developmental Origins of Endocrine Dysfunctions" PI: DM Vazquez
National Institute of Mental Health Early Experience, Stress Neurobiology and Prevention Science PI: M Gunnar Depression Risk, Infant-Mother Attachment and Cortisol, PI: DM Vazquez Molecular Elements, Neurocircuits and Mental Illness, PI: SJ Watson Development of Interdisciplinary Approaches to Study Impact of Adverse Fetal and Neonatal Experience on Child and Adolescent Mental Health PI: DM Vazquez

Recent Publications:

• Marcus S, Lopez JF, McDonough S, Mackenzie MJ, Flynn H, Neal CR Jr, Gahagan S, Volling B, Kaciroti N, Vazquez DM. Depressive symptoms during pregnancy: Impact on neuroendocrine and neonatal outcomes.Infant Behav Dev. 2010 Oct 28. [Epub ahead of print]
• Thomas IH, Saini NK, Adhikari A, Lee JM, Kasa-vubu JZ, Vazquez DM, Menon RK, Chen M, Fajans, SS. Neonatal diabetes mellitus with pancreatic agenesis in an infant with homozygous Pro63fsdelC IPF-1 mutation. Pediatric Diabetes, 2009 Nov;10(7):492-6. Epub 2009 Jun 3.
• Armitage R, Flynn H, Hoffmann R, Vazquez DM, Lopez JF, Marcus S. Early Developmental Changes in Sleep in Infants: The Impact of Maternal Depression. Sleep, 2009 May 1;32(5):693-6.
• Gajarski RJ, Stefanelli CP, Graziano JN, Kaciroti N, Charpie JR, Vazquez DM. Adrenocortical Response in Infants Undergoing Cardiac Surgery with Cardiopulmonary Bypass and Circulatory Arrest.  Pediatr Crit Care Med 2009 May 15. [Epub ahead of print]  
• Lopez-Duran NL, Olson SL, Hajal NJ, Felt BT, Vazquez DM. Hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis functioning in reactive and proactive aggression in children. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2009, Feb;37(2):169-82.