Forming memories for aversive events is essential for the behavioral adaptation to threatening environments. Exaggerated aversive memories, however, can lead to the development of anxiety disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Crucially, the vulnerability of an individual for developing PTSD upon exposure to highly aversive, traumatic events is also dependent on its previous life history of stress exposures.
In a current project, using juvenile stress as a model for childhood adversity, I’m investigating how especially inhibitory interneurons control adaptive and mal-adaptive fear memory formation later in life.
To this end, I utilize state-of-the-art in vivo interventional approaches such as pharmacogenetics, local application of pharmacological compounds and viral vectors in different transgenic mouse models and combine those with behavioral, molecular and electrophysiological read-outs.
Education
Medical degree and practitioner licence, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany 2008
M.D.”Dr. med.”, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Germany 2010
Ph.D. “Dr. rer. nat.”, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Germany 2013
Postdoc, Institute for the Study of Affective Neuroscience (ISAN)/ Sagol Department of Neurobiology, Haifa University, Israel 2012-2016
Contact information
E-mail: anne1.albrecht[at]ovgu.de or anne.albrecht[at]lin-magdeburg.de
Telephone: +49(391)-67 55108
Publications
Ivens S, Çalışkan G, Papageorgiou I, Cesetti T, Malich A, Kann O, Heinemann U, Stork O, Albrecht A (2019) Persistent increase in ventral hippocampal long-term potentiation by juvenile stress: A role for astrocytic glutamine synthetase. Glia. 67:2279-2293.
Saha R, Kriebel M, Volkmer H, Richter-Levin G, Albrecht A (2018) Neurofascin Knock Down in the Basolateral Amygdala Mediates Resilience of Memory and Plasticity in the Dorsal Dentate Gyrus Under Stress. Mol Neurobiol. 55(9):7317-7326.
Raza SA*, Albrecht A*, Çalışkan G, Müller B, Demiray YE, Ludewig S, Meis S, Faber N, Hartig R, Schraven B, Lessmann V, Schwegler H, Stork O (2017) HIPP neurons in the dentate gyrus mediate the cholinergic modulation of background context memory salience. Nat Commun. 8:189.
Albrecht A, Stork O (2017) Circadian rhythms in fear conditioning: An overview of behavioral, brain system and molecular interactions. Neural Plast. 2017:3750307
Ritov G, Ardi Z, Horovitz O, Albrecht A, Richter-Levin G (2017) Juvenile adversity and adult threat controllability in translational models of stress-related disorders. Curr Op Behav Sci. 14:148-154.
Albrecht A, Müller I, Ardi Z, Çalışkan G, Gruber D, Ivens S, Segal M, Behr J, Heinemann U, Stork O, Richter-Levin G (2017) Neurobiological consequences of juvenile stress: A GABAergic perspective on risk and resilience. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 74(Pt A):21-43.
Saha R, Knapp S, Chakraborty D, Horovitz O, Albrecht A, Kriebel M, Kaphzan H, Ehrlich I, Volkmer H, Richter-Levin G. GABAergic Synapses at the Axon Initial Segment of Basolateral Amygdala Projection Neurons Modulate Fear Extinction. Neuropsychopharmacology 2016 42:473-484.
Albrecht A*, Ivens S*, Papageorgiou IE, Çalışkan G, Saiepour N, Brück W, Richter-Levin G, Heinemann U, Stork O. Shifts in excitatory/inhibitory balance by juvenile stress: A role for neuron-astrocyte interaction in the dentate gyrus. Glia 2016 64:911-922. (* Equal Contribution)
Ardi Z*, Albrecht A*, Richter-Levin A, Saha R, Richter-Levin G. Behavioral profiling as a translational approach in an animal model of posttraumatic stress disorder. Neurobiol. Dis. 2016 88:139-147. (* Equal Contribution)
Gruber D, Gilling KE *, Albrecht A *, Bartsch JC, Çalışkan G, Richter-Levin G, Stork O, Heinemann U, Behr J. 5-HT receptor-mediated modulation of granule cell inhibition after juvenile stress recovers after a second exposure to adult stress. Neuroscience 2015 293:67-79. (* Equal Contribution)
Çalışkan G *, Albrecht A *, Hollnagel JO, Rösler A, Richter-Levin G, Heinemann U, Stork O. Long-term changes in the CA3 associative network of fear-conditioned mice. Stress 2015 8:188-97. (* Equal Contribution)
Grigoryan G, Ardi Z, Albrecht A, Richter-Levin G, Segal M. Juvenile stress alters LTP in ventral hippocampal slices: Involvement of noradrenergic mechanisms. Behav Brain Res 2014 278C:559-562.
Hadad-Ophir O, Albrecht A, Stork O, Richter-Levin G. Amygdala activation and GABAergic gene expression in hippocampal sub-regions at the interplay of stress and spatial learning. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 2014 8:3.
Albrecht A, Thiere M, Bergado-Acosta JR, Poranzke J, Müller B, Stork O. Circadian modulation of anxiety: a role for somatostatin in the amygdala. PLoS One 2013 8:e84668.
Caliskan G, Albrecht A. Noradrenergic interactions via autonomic nervous system: a promising target for extinction-based exposure therapy? J Neurophysiol. 2013 110:2507-2510.
Teuber J, Mueller B, Fukabori R, Lang D, Albrecht A, Stork O. The ubiquitin ligase Praja1 reduces NRAGE expression and inhibits neuronal differentiation of PC12 cells. PLoS One 2013 8:e63067.
Albrecht A, Çalişkan G, Oitzl MS, Heinemann U, Stork O. Long-lasting increase of corticosterone after fear memory reactivation: Anxiolytic effects and network activity modulation in the ventral hippocampus. Neuropsychopharmacology 2013 38:386- 394
Albrecht A, Stork O. Are NCAM deficient mice an animal model for schizophrenia? Front Behav Neurosci. 2012 6:43.
Albrecht A, Bergado-Acosta JR, Pape HC, Stork O. Role of the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) in amygdalo-hippocampal interactions and salience determination of contextual fear memory. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2010 13:661-674
Stoppel C, Albrecht A, Pape HC, Stork O. Genes and neurons: molecular insights to fear and anxiety. Genes Brain Behav. 2006 5Suppl2:34-47.
