| Title: | Chronic social defeat stress in female mice leads to sex-specific behavioral and neuroendocrine effects |
| Author(s): | van Doeselaar L; Yang H; Bordes J; Brix L; Engelhardt C; Tang F; Schmidt MV; |
| Address: | "Research Group Neurobiology of Stress Resilience, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany" |
| DOI: | 10.1080/10253890.2020.1864319 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1607-8888 (Electronic) 1025-3890 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Over the years, it has become increasingly clear that males and females respond differently towards environmental stressors, highlighting the importance of including both sexes when studying the effects of stress. This study aims to provide further insight into the detailed consequences of exposing female mice to 21 days of chronic social defeat stress (CSDS). We used a protocol that relies on the ability of odorants and pheromones in male urine to trigger male mouse aggressive behavior. Collected male C57Bl/6n urine was applied to female C57Bl/6n mice who were then attacked by a novel male CD1 mouse each day according to the CDSD protocol. Control females were pair-housed and handled daily. Physiological, neuroendocrine and behavioral changes were evaluated during the experiment. CSDS exposure resulted in number of physiological changes, such as body weight gain, enlarged adrenals and reduced thymus weight, exaggerated HPA-axis negative feedback and increased anxiety-like behavior. However, no generalized social avoidance behavior was observed. This study provides important insights in the physiological, neuroendocrine and behavioral responses of female mice to CSDS, which are partially dependent on estrous cycle stage. This protocol will allow direct comparison of male and female responses to CSDS and enable sex-specific study of mechanisms underlying individual stress resilience.Lay summaryIn this study we found that there are differences in the way that female and male mice respond towards chronic social stress conditions when it comes to behavior and hormonal changes" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Avoidance Learning Behavior, Animal Female Male Mice Mice, Inbred C57BL Social Behavior *Social Defeat *Stress, Psychological Stress behavior chronic social defeat estrous cycle sex;" |
| Notes: | "Medlinevan Doeselaar, Lotte Yang, Huanqing Bordes, Joeri Brix, Lea Engelhardt, Clara Tang, Fiona Schmidt, Mathias V eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2020/12/17 Stress. 2021 Mar; 24(2):168-180. doi: 10.1080/10253890.2020.1864319. Epub 2020 Dec 26" |
