Can stress change the structure of your brain cells?

Stress doesn’t just affect neurons. 

A study from Dr. Baljit Khakh’s lab at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA found that chronic stress changed astrocytes, cells that help support and regulate brain activity, in a region involved in emotion and stress. 

Tiny antenna-like structures on these cells called cilia became shorter, and restoring them was linked to improvements in stress-related behaviors in mice. 

Read the entire paper: Amygdala astrocyte primary cilium mechanisms contribute to stress behaviours