Astrid Linthorst is a professor of neuroscience at the School of Clinical Sciences at the University of Bristol, UK. Specializing in the neurochemistry and neuroendocrinology of stress and behavior, she heads a research group on the mechanisms that support coping with stress in the brain. She is also chair of the Scientific Programme Committee of the ECNP Congress and a member of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Executive Committee.
Linthorst received her PhD in Pharmacology at the Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands. After completing her PhD, she was a scientist and research group head at the Max Planck Institute in Munich. She is currently a professor of neuroscience at the University of Bristol. Prior to this appointment, she served as a senior lecturer and reader in neuroscience within the department. She is also the director of the MSc program in molecular neuroscience and co-director of the MRes program in systems neuroscience.
Linthorst heads a research group that studies stress, specifically the neurochemical and neuroendocrine mechanisms that support coping with stress. The group also studies the effects of exercise on stress relief. The research group is funded by the Wellcome Trust and the European Union.
Linthorst has been awarded two grants from the Wellcome Trust, a biomedical research charity based in London. She also received a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
Positions of trust and research assessments
Linthorst is a member of the Society for Neuroscience, the British Neuroscience Association, the British Society for Neuroendocrinology, the British Association for Psychopharmacology, and the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), where she chairs the Scientific Programme Committee of the ECNP Congres.
Linthorst has published extensively. Key publications include:
Beekman, Marjolein; Flachskamm, Cornelia; Linthorst, Astrid C. E. (May 2005). "Effects of exposure to a predator on behaviour and serotonergic neurotransmission in different brain regions of C57bl/6N mice". European Journal of Neuroscience. 21 (10): 2825–2836. doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2005.04107.x.
De Groote, Lotte; Peñalva, Rosana G.; Flachskamm, Cornelia; Reul, Johannes M. H. M.; Linthorst, Astrid C. E. (July 2005). "Differential monoaminergic, neuroendocrine and behavioural responses after central administration of corticotropin-releasing factor receptor type 1 and type 2 agonists". Journal of Neurochemistry. 94 (1): 45–56. PMID 15953348. doi:10.1111/j.1471-4159.2005.03164.x.
Droste, Susanne K.; Gesing, Angela; Ulbricht, Sabine; Müller, Marianne B.; Linthorst, Astrid C. E.; Reul, Johannes M. H. M. (July 2003). "Effects of long-term voluntary exercise on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in mice". Endocrinology. The Endocrine Society. 144 (7): 3012–3023. doi:10.1210/en.2003-0097. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
Peñalva, Rosana G.; Lancel, Marike; Flachskamm, Cornelia; Reul, Johannes M. H. M.; Holsboer, Florian; Linthorst, Astrid C. E. (May 2003). "Effect of sleep and sleep deprivation on serotonergic neurotransmission in the hippocampus: a combined in vivo microdialysis/EEG study in rats". European Journal of Neuroscience. Federation of European Neuroscience Societies. 17 (9): 1896–1906. doi:10.1046/j.1460-9568.2003.02612.x.
Linthorst, Astrid C.E.; Peñalva, Rosana G.; Flachskamm, Cornelia; Holsboer, Florian; Reul, Johannes M. H. M. (December 2002). "Forced swim stress activates rat hippocampal serotonergic neurotransmission involving a corticotropinreleasing hormone receptor-dependent mechanism". European Journal of Neuroscience. Federation of European Neuroscience Societies. 16 (12): 2441–2452. doi:10.1046/j.1460-9568.2002.02400.x.
Linthorst, Astrid C. E.; Flachskamm, Cornelia; Barden, Nicholas; Holsboer, Florian; Reul, Johannes M. H. M. (January 2000). "Glucocorticoid receptor impairment alters CNS responses to a psychological stressor: an in vivo microdialysis study in transgenic mice". European Journal of Neuroscience. 12 (1): 283–291. doi:10.1046/j.1460-9568.2000.00878.x.
Linthorst, Astrid C. E.; Karanth, Sharada; Barden, Nicholas; Florian, Holsboer; Reul, Johannes M. H. M. (January 1999). "Impaired glucocorticoid receptor function evolves in aberrant physiological responses to bacterial endotoxin". European Journal of Neuroscience. 11 (1): 178–186. doi:10.1046/j.1460-9568.1999.00425.x.
Linthorst, Astrid C. E.; Cornelia, Flachskamm; Hopkins, Stephen J.; Hoadley, Margaret E.; Labeur, Marta S.; Holsboer, Florian; Reul, Johannes M. H. M. (1 June 1997). "Long-term intracerebroventricular infusion of corticotropin-releasing hormone alters neuroendocrine, neurochemical, autonomic, behavioral, and cytokine responses to a systemic inflammatory challenge" (PDF). The Journal of Neuroscience. 17 (11): 4448–4460. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
Linthorst, Astrid C. E.; Flachskamm, Cornelia; Müller-Preuss, Peter; Holsboer, Florian; Reul, Johannes M. H. M. (April 1995). "Effect of bacterial endotoxin and interleukin-1ß on hippocampal serotonergic neurotransmission, behavioral activity and free corticosterone levels: an in vivo microdialysis study". The Journal of Neuroscience. 15 (4): 2920–2934. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
Linthorst, Astrid C. E.; Flachskamm, Cornelia; Holsboer, Florian; Reul, Johannes M. H. M. (August 1994). "Local administration of recombinant human interleukin-1ß in the rat hippocampus increases serotonergic neurotransmission, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis activity, and body temperature". Endocrinology. 135 (2): 520–532. doi:10.1210/endo.135.2.7518383.
