NIMH » Past Research
Psychosocial Stress, Environmental Enrichment, and Hippocampal Neurogenesis A naturalistic model of chronic stress that mimics depressive conditions in humans is psychosocial stress, achieved in mice by creating a housing condition in which an aggressive dominant mouse and a subordinate mouse live together separated by a perforated barrier. The persistent conflict results in socially defeated subordinate mice that show behavioral signs of increased anxiety, helplessness, anhedonia, and inappropriate social interaction, assessed in validated behavioral tests. We showed that environmental enric...
Source: nih.gov