Behavioral and physiological response to onset and termination of social instability in female mice

• Published in: Hormones and behavior 2016-02, Vol.78, p.135-140
• Main Authors: Jarcho, M.R., Massner, K.J., Eggert, A.R., Wichelt, E.L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Animals; Anxiety; Anxiety - metabolism; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Corticosterone - metabolism; Disease Models, Animal; Female; Females; Hair - metabolism; Hair corticosterone; Mice; Rodents; Social Environment; Social instability; Steroids; Stress response; Stress, Psychological - metabolism
• ISSN: 0018-506X; 1095-6867
• DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2015.11.004

Chronic stress has been associated with several negative health outcomes and psychopathological conditions. One source of chronic stress might be from ones social environment (e.g., being excluded from a group, losing a loved one, etc.). Specifically, social instability, or frequent changes in the social environment, can result in both physiological and behavioral stress responses. Corticosterone is the primary stress-responsive biomarker in rodents, and it reflects the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Historically, research on the effects of stress has relied on collection of blood, saliva, or other bodily fluids that yield information about moment-to-moment changes in stress physiology. Recently, new sampling techniques involving quantification of glucocorticoids in hair has allowed researchers to view patterns of stress physiology over extended periods of time. This study assessed the effects of chronic social instability on corticosterone levels in female mice. Mice that were subjected to social instability showed elevated hair corticosterone compared to baseline levels and as compared to controls. Additionally, when mice were returned to stable social environments, corticosterone levels returned to levels comparable to baseline and to control animals. This suggests that the corticosterone in hair from female mice can serve as a useful biomarker of chronic stress, and that social instability is a sufficient stressor to elicit an extended HPA response. •Social instability stress increased hair corticosterone.•Return to stable social conditions reduced hair corticosterone.•Rearing was higher in animals experiencing social instability.•Social instability stress is an appropriate mouse model of anxiety.