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Methods and Challenges in Investigating Sex-Specific Consequences of Social Stressors in Adolescence in Rats: Is It the Stress or the Social or the Stage of Development?

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Neuroscience of Social Stress

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences ((CTBN,volume 54))

Abstract

Adolescence is a time of social learning and social restructuring that is accompanied by changes in both the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The activation of these axes by puberty and stressors, respectively, shapes adolescent development. Models of social stress in rats are used to understand the consequences of perturbations of the social environment for ongoing brain development. This paper reviews the challenges in investigating the sex-specific consequences of social stressors, sex differences in the models of social stress used in rats and the sex-specific effects on behaviour and provides an overview of sex differences in HPA responding to stressors, the variability in pubertal development and in strains of rats that require consideration in conducting such research, and directions for future research.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful for the funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation that has supported my research on this topic. I am grateful to the many graduate and undergraduate students who advanced this research and are authors in the resulting publications.

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  1. Psychology Department and Centre for Neuroscience, Brock University, St Catharines, ON, Canada

    Cheryl M. McCormick

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  1. Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA

    Klaus A. Miczek

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Yale Stress Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Rajita Sinha

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McCormick, C.M. (2021). Methods and Challenges in Investigating Sex-Specific Consequences of Social Stressors in Adolescence in Rats: Is It the Stress or the Social or the Stage of Development?. In: Miczek, K.A., Sinha, R. (eds) Neuroscience of Social Stress. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, vol 54. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2021_245

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