Publications

Original Research

Medina CA, Deme P, Win V, Nikitah I, McKie I, Song M, Raudales M, Regier E, Amsden E, Bendale P, Haughey N, Opendak M (2026). Bile acid signaling as a therapeutically tractable pathway linking early caregiving adversity to social behavior. bioRxiv. doi: 10.64898/2026.08.14.742173

Su A, Regier E, Lim C, McKie I, Perez-Flesler B, Win V, Nikitah I, Chacon D, Bullock BC, Sparks Mendez L, Fogus K, Tamashiro KLK, Robinson PA, Opendak M (2026). Adversity severity shapes caregiving predictors and neural correlates of infant social behavior. bioRxiv. doi: 10.64898/2026.09.30.75536

Song M, McKie I, Su A, Win V, Nikitah I, Yamamoto M, Bendale P, Maignan F.W., Fogus K & Opendak M. (2026). Postpartum Adversity in Rats Creates a Hypervigilant Maternal State Through Selective Salience-Circuit Recruitment. Neurobiology of Stress, 100795. doi: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2026.100795

Cobb-Lewis D, George A, Hu S, Packard K, Song M, Nguyen-Lopez O, Tesone E, Rowden J, Wang J, Opendak M (2024) The lateral habenula integrates age and experience to promote social transitions in developing rats. Cell Reports. 2024 Aug 27;43(8):114556. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114556. Epub 2024 Aug 1. PMID: 39096491.

Reviews

Opendak M. Building a Social Brain: Cells, Circuits and Behavior Across the Lifespan (2025) Neurobiology of Stress. Special Issue: Future Leaders in Stress. 36 (100725). doi: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2025.100725.

Opendak M*, Meyer HC*, Callaghan BL, Abramson L, John SR, Bath K, Lee FS, Tottenham N, Sullivan M (2025). Understanding the development of a functional brain circuit: Reward processing as an illustration. Translational Psychiatry 2025 Feb 17;15(1):53. doi: 10.1038/s41398-025-03280-z

Ferrara NC, Che A, Briones BA, Padilla-Coreano N, Lovett-Barron M, Opendak M (2023). Neural circuit transitions supporting developmentally-specific social behavior. The Journal of Neuroscience. 2023 Nov 8;43(45):7456-7462. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1377-23.2023.

Ferrara N, Opendak M (2023). Amygdala circuit transitions supporting developmentally-appropriate social behavior. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2023.107762.

George A, Padilla-Coreano N, Opendak M (2023). For Neuroscience, Social History Matters. Neuropsychopharmacology. doi: 10.1038/s41386-023-01566-8.

Packard K, Opendak M (2022). Rodent models of early adversity: Impacts on developing social behavior circuitry and clinical implications. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.918862

Meyer HC, Fields A, Vannucci A., Gerhard DM, Bloom PA, Heleniak C, Opendak M, Sullivan R, Tottenham N, Callaghan BL and Lee, FS (2022). The added value of cross-talk between developmental circuit neuroscience and clinical practice to inform the treatment of adolescent anxiety. Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2022.02.002

Hu S, Packard K, Opendak M (2021). Social regulation of negative valence systems during development. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience 15:828685. PMCID: PMC8811468. doi: 10.338/fnsys.2021.828685