This is not a free-for-all
Phase 2. A word that sounds almost like code, but whose meaning was clear to everyone from the very beginning. For various manufacturing and industrial activities, it meant restarting. For bars, restaurants and the like, it marked the start of takeaway. For everyone, 4 May represented the possibility of meeting relatives living in the same region, the reopening of public parks and gardens, the possibility of carrying out motor and sporting activities, individually, in the open air, all in compliance with health regulations and avoiding crowds. What undoubtedly marked a step forward towards regaining normality within the Covid19 emergency, for the whole of Italy also marked a further change from established routines, with new rules to learn and respect. And today begins another phase, already renamed Phase 2 bis, certainly with more freedom for each of us, but which precisely because of this will require even more behavioural flexibility from the individual to build new mental maps and automatisms and not thwart the collective efforts made so far to stop the spread of the virus. In short, it is not a free-for-all.
But what happens in our organism when we move from a condition of established routine to a different daily routine? Do we all react in the same way? We asked Raffaella Tonini, coordinator of the Neuromodulation of Cortical and Subcortical Circuits laboratory at IIT, who for years has been conducting basic studies to understand the molecular mechanisms by which Serotonin operates under normal conditions, laying the foundations for understanding the neurobiological basis of certain cognitive and adaptive functions.
Tonini, why are we dealing with Serotonin at this time?
Serotonin is a neuromodulator known to most to regulate mood and emotions, but recent experimental evidence suggests that it also acts at the level of areas of the brain that are important in defining behavioural flexibility, i.e. the ability to adapt to changes in context from an emotional and motor point of view, just what we have all been doing unconsciously for almost three months now.
What are you studying?
My team and I are studying a region of the brain called the nucleus striatum which integrates information coming from different areas, including the cerebral cortex, and which tells us what context we are in, whether the context is the same as always, or whether it is the first time we are in a certain environment or situation, as could be the more restrictive lockdown condition, but also the new condition in which we will have to come to terms with the need to wear masks and gloves in public places, to pay more attention to health and hygiene rules, and to abandon established social habits such as convivial moments, the famous gatherings. The striatum also receives information from emotion control regions such as the amygdala; this means that behavioural flexibility is also influenced by our emotions.
What are you focusing on specifically?
In the lab, we are observing the spatio-temporal dynamics of Serotonin, i.e. where and when it acts under conditions of change, and we hypothesise that the degree of behavioural flexibility in specific regions of the brain is associated with a precise spatio-temporal dynamic. Variations in this dynamic could make us less flexible.
And what can cause the variation in the regular spatio-temporal dynamics of Serotonin?
We know that chronic stress influences Serotonin and at the same time reduces behavioural flexibility. From this we could hypothesise that chronic stress influences behavioural flexibility by modulating Serotonin activity, but we still need to do a lot of research to be able to state this correlation.
So could we hypothesise that those who have been more exposed to sources of chronic stress during this period have more difficulty adapting to the progressive changes that are required of us?
That is so. Spending a lot of time within the home in complete solitude or, on the contrary, in an obligatory 24-hour cohabitation with family members or housemates, but also the fear of contagion, let us think of the working categories who have worked tirelessly alongside the sick, can be considered situations of prolonged stress. In addition, let us not forget that chronic stress can also result from job uncertainty, which is a major issue at the moment.
These days one hears more than usual about resilience. Is there anything scientific behind an overused term?
Resilience, a term that is often misused, is a concept that is much less abstract than people think and at this specific moment more apt than ever. Resilience, understood as the ability to cope positively with adversity, quite different from what the Anglo-Saxons call coping which aims to eliminate or tolerate the situation, is in fact the ability to manage a situation. From a neurobiological point of view, we know that the neuronal mechanisms underlying resilience involve the coordinated action of hormones and neuromodulators, such as Serotonin, in specific regions of the brain that in turn are important for behavioural flexibility. This evidence points to a close link between these two cognitive aspects, and this link would suggest that behavioural flexibility could strengthen resilience. Being resilient means being flexible and adapting quickly to changing circumstances, which is what we all need to cope with everyday life and the coming months!
