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The research question “What does it mean for a woman to be diagnosed with postnatal depression?” indicates three main overlapping areas of investigation: women, including issues of gender, discourses around womanhood and the roles and expectations being a woman carries; diagnosis, which is the categorising of experiences deemed to be outside of what is considered normal and includes discourses around mental health and mental illness; and mothers, including expectations of mothers and motherhood. All of these areas interlink and are arguably socially and culturally specific. There is also an underlying concept of identity as a woman, a mother and a mentally ill person, both separately and as an intersection of the three. It is therefore an important area of investigation within counselling psychology, a discipline that concerns itself with subjective experience and is therefore well placed to interrogate the process of medicalised diagnoses. The social and cultural influence also suggests Charmaz’s constructivist grounded theory as the appropriate method as it uses ideas of social constructionism. In this study semistructured interviews were carried out with eight women who believed they had been given a diagnosis of postnatal depression. They were asked about the circumstances leading up to their diagnosis and what they felt the impact was. These interviews were transcribed and analysed using a Grounded Theory methodology (Charmaz, e.g. 2006). A theory of how women view their experience of being diagnosed with postnatal depression, as well as how social factors influence the way the women make sense of this experience, is proposed. This theory takes the form of a process in which women described a dissonance between their expectations of motherhood and their lived experience. They understood this as a lack in themselves and as a result hid their struggles to a point at which they felt they could no longer avoid seeking professional help. The subsequent diagnosis of postnatal depression led to an opening of a dialogue around the difficulties they were experiencing as well as options of possible treatments. The implications of this process are discussed.

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Previous studies have sought to investigate the effects of rumination and distraction on social problem-solving, mood and confidence of dysphoric and depressed individuals. The current study is aimed at extending this literature by examining the effects of rumination on parental problem-solving, mood and problem-solving confidence among dysphoric post-natal women. Fifty-nine post-natal women took part in the study and were allocated to either the dysphoric or control group based upon the Edinburgh Post-natal Depression Scale (Cox, Holden & Sagovsky, 1987). Women were asked to complete measures of mood, confidence and four problem-solving tasks following a rumination or distraction mood induction. Results indicated that dysphoric post-natal women induced to ruminate showed poorer problemsolving and lower mood than dysphoric women induced to distract and non-dysphoric women induced to distract or ruminate. No significant differences were seen in reported confidence levels for dysphoric post-natal women induced to ruminate than dysphoric women induced to distract and non-dysphoric women induced to distract or ruminate. Consideration is given to the clinical implications of these findings as well as the limitations and possibilities for future research.

Les microvaisseaux musculaires sont souvent considérés comme une source de nutriments et d'oxygène pour le muscle en croissance et ils semblent être conservés de façon stéréotypée. L'unité microvasculaire du muscle sain et adulte est composée de 6 à 8 capillaires. Dans Gitiaux, et al. (2013) nous montrons que l'organisation et la taille de l'unité microvasculaire sont strictement similaires chez l'homme et la souris. Dans le muscle squelettique adulte, la majorité des cellules satellites sont proches des péricytes et certaines d'entre elles semblent pouvoir établir des contacts directs temporaires avec les péricytes. In vitro, les cellules endothéliales induisent l'activation et la prolifération des cellules satellites en sécrétant de l'Angpt-2 et du PDGF-BB, alors que les péricytes induisent la quiescence et la différenciation des cellules satellites, par l'Angpt-1 et l'IGF-1 respectivement. Ces effets ont été confirmés in vivo, en utilisant les modèles murin Tg:NG2Cre/+::R26RiDTR, Tg:NG2Cre/+::IGF1del/+ et Tg:TNAPCreERT2/+::Angpt1del/+, dans lesquels il existe une hypotrophie musculaire et une activation des cellules satellites. Tous ces résultats soutiennent le dogme que « des cellules souches soutiennent d'autre cellules souches ». / Muscle microvasculature is often considered solely as a source of nutrients and oxygen for growing muscle cells and seems to be stereotypically conserved between human and mouse. The adult normal muscle microvascular unit is formed of 6–8 capillaries. In Gitiaux, et al. (2013) we show that microvascular unit organization and size are strikingly similar in human and small animals. In the adult skeletal muscle, the majority of satellite cells are close neighbors of pericytes and some of them are probably able to establish temporary direct contacts with pericytes. During post-natal development, in human and mice, pericytes and satellite cells become progressively closer. In vitro, endothelial cells induce satellite cell activation and proliferation through Angpt-2 and PDGF-BB, while pericytes induce quiescence through Angpt-1 and differentiation of satellite cells through IGF-1. These effects are confirmed by in vivo experiments using Tg:NG2Cre/+::R26RiDTR, Tg:NG2Cre/+::IGF1del/+ and Tg:TNAPCreERT2/+::Angpt1del/+ mice, which exhibit muscle hypotrophy and satellite cell activation. All these results support the emerging concept that “stem cells support other stem cells”.

La carence précoce en donneurs de méthyles (folates et vitamine B12) entraîne une hyperhomocystéinémie ainsi que des troubles cognitifs et de la coordination motrice chez les ratons de 21 jours. Ces troubles ont été reliés à une altération de la neurogenèse dans l'hippocampe et le cervelet, mécanisme étroitement relié à la neurostéroïdogenèse (NSG), définie par la synthèse locale de stéroïdes dans le cerveau. L'objectif principal de ce travail a été de déterminer si ces troubles étaient associés à une altération de la NSG. Ce travail a conduit à plusieurs résultats marquants, montrant notamment l'effet délétère de la carence gestationnelle en donneurs de méthyles sur la voie stéroïdogénique dans le cervelet, région cérébrale particulièrement vulnérable en période post-natale. Ceci s'est traduit par un effondrement du contenu en estradiol et autres neurostéroïdes, consécutivement à la diminution de l'expression de StAR, TSPO et de l'aromatase, ainsi que des récepteurs aux estrogènes. Ces effets délétères sont associés à une atteinte de la voie de signalisation dépendante de l'AMPc associée à l'activation du récepteur LHR, et la diminution de facteurs de transcription impliqués dans la régulation des gènes de la NSG, notamment SF-1, dont la présence dans les cellules de Purkinje du cervelet n'avait jamais été décrite auparavant. Cette réponse à la carence se ferait selon un dimorphisme sexuel, puisque seules les jeunes femelles nées de mères carencées étaient affectées. Enfin, ces études ont permis la mise en évidence d'altérations fonctionnelles associées aux dommages cellulaires et moléculaires observés dans les bulbes olfactifs (BO), se traduisant par une diminution des fonctions de la discrimination olfactive. Ceci pourrait contribuer au retard de croissance associé au poids corporel réduit mesuré chez les animaux carencés / Early methyl-donor deficiency (MDD, folate and vitamin B12) produces hyperhomocysteinemia, cognitive and motor disorders in 21 days-old rat pups. These disorders are linked to an alteration of neurogenesis in the cerebellum and the hippocampus, which is closely linked to neurosteroidogenesis, defined as the local synthesis of steroids in brain. The aim of this work was to verify if these troubles are associated with an altered neurosteroidogenesis. This work led to several striking results, showing in particular the deleterious effects of the methyl donor deficiency on the steroidogenic pathway in the cerebellum, particularly vulnerable during postnatal development. This was confirmed by the reduced contents of estradiol and other neurosteroids, as a result of the decrease of the expression of StAR, TSPO and aromatase, as well as the estrogen receptors. These deleterious effects are associated to the impairment of AMPc dependent signaling pathway and the decrease of transcription factors, notably SF-1, which the presence in the cerebellar Purkinje cells had never been described previously. This response to the deficiency would be made according to a sexual dimorphism, since only the young deficient females were affected. Finally, these studies allowed us to show functional changes associated with the cellular and molecular damage observed in the olfactory bulbs, being traduced by a decrease of the olfactory discrimination. This could contribute to the growth retardation associated with the reduced body weight of the deficient animals

Puerperal Psychosis is the most severe form of postnatal psychiatric illness, and is a psychiatric emergency. Human-based research to find a means of genetically predicting a woman's risk of puerperal psychosis has so far failed to reliably or reproducibly identify candidate genes or pathways, due to problems common within the field of psychiatric genetics, leading to the proposal of using an animal model in the form of Porcine Maternal Infanticide. In this project, the author has aimed to understand the pathophysiology of PMI using NGS technologies in order to 1) extend the validity of PMI as a model for PP; 2) determine future steps for development of the PMI model; and 3) generate insights into the management of PMI (and by extension PP) via prediction and detection of a puerperal trigger. These aims have been pursued via two experiments. In the first, the author has created RNA-Seq libraries from archival RNA, and then performed differential gene expression analysis. The results indicated that RNA-Seq technologies can be used with archival RNA samples, but using such samples introduces the risk of degradation-based bias. The substantial influence of outliers, confounding factors and sample size on the results prevented reliable identification of candidate genes" but provide concrete guidelines development of the Porcine Maternal Infanticide model. In the second, the author has created MBD-Seq libraries from archival tissue, and then performed differential methylation analysis. The results indicated that it is possible to use MBD-Seq technologies with Sus scrofa brain tissue. Once again, the effect of confounding factors and sample size on the results prevented reliable identification of candidate genes, but provide guidance for development of the Porcine Maternal Infanticide model.