Behavioral and physiological responses of female prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) to various stressful conditions

AbstractStressful life events elicit hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activation, which may alter psychological states or behavioral routines. Therefore, the current study focused on the HPA axis response to better understand such manifestations in female prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). In Experiment 1, females were stressed for 1 h via one of the four stressors: exposure to a novel environment, immobilization (“plastic mesh”), brief social defeat, or prolonged social defeat. Following a 30-min recovery, the females received a 5-min elevated plus maze (EPM) test and, subsequently, blood was collected to measure plasma corticosterone concentrations. Only immobilization stress induced an anxiety-like behavioral response in the EPM test and elevated plasma corticosterone levels compared to the control groups. Corticosterone concentrations were also significantly elevated following exposure to prolonged social defeat compared to the control conditions, but not after novel environment stress or ...