Publications by Ioannis Zalachoras

Hypothalamic pregnenolone mediates recognition memory in the context of metabolic disorders

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Ioannis Zalachoras, Sara Ramirez Flores

Obesity and type 2 diabetes are associated with cognitive dysfunction. Because the hypothalamus is implicated in energy balance control and memory disorders, we hypothesized that specific neurons in this brain region are at the interface of metabolism and ...

Cell Press2022

Glutathione in the nucleus accumbens regulates motivation to exert reward-incentivized effort

Pascal Steiner, Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Lijing Xin, Olivia Zanoletti, Fiona Hollis, Alina Veronika Irene Strasser, Ioannis Zalachoras, Simone Astori, João Pedro de Matos Rodrigues, Eva Ramos Fernandez

Emerging evidence is implicating mitochondrial function and metabolism in the nucleus accumbens in motivated performance. However, the brain is vulnerable to excessive oxidative insults resulting from neurometabolic processes, and whether antioxidant level ...

2022

Opposite effects of stress on effortful motivation in high and low anxiety are mediated by CRHR1 in the VTA

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Olivia Zanoletti, Jocelin Grosse, Marie-Isabelle Guillot de Suduiraut, Ioannis Zalachoras, Simone Astori, Mandy Meijer

Individuals frequently differ in their behavioral and cognitive responses to stress. However, whether motivation is differently affected by acute stress in different individuals remains to be established. By exploiting natural variation in trait anxiety in ...

2022

eNAMPT actions through nucleus accumbens NAD + /SIRT1 link increased adiposity with sociability deficits programmed by peripuberty stress

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Johan Auwerx, Olivia Zanoletti, Jocelin Grosse, Marie-Isabelle Guillot de Suduiraut, Wei Huang, Laia Morato Fornaguera, Ioannis Zalachoras, Simone Astori, João Pedro de Matos Rodrigues, Sriparna Ghosal, Lei Cao

Obesity is frequently associated with impairments in the social domain, and stress at puberty can lead to long-lasting changes in visceral fat deposition and in social behaviors. However, whether stress-induced changes in adipose tissue can affect fat-to-b ...

2022

The glucocorticoid receptor in the nucleus accumbens plays a crucial role in social rank attainment in rodents

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Olivia Zanoletti, Jocelin Grosse, Fiona Hollis, Alexandre Claude Gustave Bacq, Ioannis Zalachoras, Thomas Didier Larrieu, Meltem Weger

Social hierarchy in social species is usually established through competitive encounters with conspecifics. It determines the access to limited resources and, thus, leads to reduced fights among individuals within a group. Despite the known importance of s ...

2020

Therapeutic potential of glutathione-enhancers in stress-related psychopathologies

Pascal Steiner, Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Sarah Catherine Sonnay, Fiona Hollis, Laia Morato Fornaguera, Ioannis Zalachoras, Eva Ramos Fernandez

The mammalian brain has high energy demands, which may become higher in response to environmental challenges such as psychogenic stress exposure. Therefore, efficient neutralization of reactive oxygen species that are produced as a by-product of ATP synthe ...

2020

Latency to Reward Predicts Social Dominance in Rats: A Causal Role for the Dopaminergic Mesolimbic System

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Laura Lozano Montes, Ioannis Zalachoras, Sonia Abad Florensa, Simone Astori

Reward signals encoded in the mesolimbic dopaminergic system guide approach/seeking behaviors to all varieties of life-supporting stimuli (rewards). Differences in dopamine (DA) levels have been found between dominant and submissive animals. However, it is ...

2019

GABA A receptors in the ventral tegmental area control the outcome of a social competition in rats

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Michael van der Kooij, Ioannis Zalachoras

Social dominance can be attained through social competitions. Recent work in both humans and rodents has identified trait anxiety as a crucial predictor of social competitiveness. In addition, the anxiolytic GABAA positive modulator, diazepam, injected eit ...

2018

Diazepam actions in the VTA enhance social dominance and mitochondrial function in the nucleus accumbens by activation of accumbal dopamine D1 receptors

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Carlos Canto Alvarez, Olivia Zanoletti, Jocelin Grosse, Michael van der Kooij, Fiona Hollis, Laura Lozano Montes, Marie-Isabelle Guillot de Suduiraut, Ioannis Zalachoras, Sonia Abad Florensa

Benzodiazepines can ameliorate social disturbances and increase social competition, particularly in high-anxious individuals. However, the neural circuits and mechanisms underlying benzodiazepines’ effects in social competition are not understood. Convergi ...

Nature Publishing Group2018