Kurzfassung

Teilprojekt B08: Endocannabinoids in Negative Feedback Mechanisms: Involvement of Epigenetic Mechanisms Underlying Homeostasis and the Shift to Allostasis
The physiology of a healthy organism is rather stable. Nevertheless, impacts from external and internal sources continously challenge the organism's homeostasis, and hence its life. Such stress situations are tolerated due to mechanisms that allow re-establishing the physiological balance. The endocannabinoid (eCB) system is able to drive...Teilprojekt B08: Endocannabinoids in Negative Feedback Mechanisms: Involvement of Epigenetic Mechanisms Underlying Homeostasis and the Shift to Allostasis
The physiology of a healthy organism is rather stable. Nevertheless, impacts from external and internal sources continously challenge the organism's homeostasis, and hence its life. Such stress situations are tolerated due to mechanisms that allow re-establishing the physiological balance. The endocannabinoid (eCB) system is able to drive such mechanisms so that an organism can re-acquire its normality. However, after prolonged challenge and stress situations, the eCB system may become altered in a lon-lasting manner, and concomitantly, it may have protective functions, or it may contribute to emerging pathophysiological conditions.
The project aims at understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the shift from a homeostatic to a new allostatic point, and addresses whether it is possible to reverse this shift by using gentic and/or pharmacological tools. We argue that an important molecular mechanism underlying homeostasis and allostastis involves epigenetic processes, thereby regulating eCB systems activity in a long-term manner.
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