# Stressor controllability: distinct prefrontal circuits regulate resilience

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO · 2020 · $434,175

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The degree of behavioral control that an organism (rodent to human) can exert over an
adverse event is one of the most potent variables yet discovered that modulates the
behavioral and neurochemical impact of that event. When the organism does have an
element of control, the behavioral and neurochemical sequelae of the adverse event are
blunted or eliminated. Importantly, the experience of control not only blunts the impact of
the stressor being controlled, but also blunts the impact of stressors experienced much
later (at least two months in rat), that is, control produces future resilience in the face of
adversity. The research to be conducted in this proposal will be directed at investigating
the neural circuits by which the prefrontal cortex mediates the stress-buffering effects of
coping/control. Specific Aims will examine the precise prefrontal circuits involved in the
separable features of behavioral control: (a) the detection of control and (b) the
subsequent use of that information to regulate stress-responsive systems accordingly. In
addition, over the last grant period we have extended the study of controllability
phenomena to females, and surprisingly, here control does not blunt the impact of stress.
The proposed research focuses on the roles of specific prefrontal cortex circuits in
mediating the effects of control on stress resilience, as well as a determination of exactly
how critical prefrontal circuits may respond to stressors differently in males and females.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9970530
- **Project number:** 5R01MH050479-28
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
- **Principal Investigator:** STEVEN F MAIER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $434,175
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1993-04-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9970530

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9970530, Stressor controllability: distinct prefrontal circuits regulate resilience (5R01MH050479-28). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9970530. Licensed CC0.

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