Behavioral assessments of mouse Strain differences in response to social stress

Abstract

In this study a mouse model is set up with a potentially unbiased platform to address the strain differences in response to social stress. Three different mouse strains of C57, BALB/c and DBA were submitted to 5 day and 10 day social stress (SS). Mice were kept inside an aggressor (AGG) home cage and randomly exposed to the AGG three times a day for one minute or for up to ten attacks in less than one minute, while control mice never experienced AGG proximity.Behavioral assessments were performed using the partition/barrier test. Behaviors were recorded and analyzed using Etho Vision software. Subject mice were kept in the aggressor cage separated from the aggressor by a perforated divider.Socially stressed mice persistently avoided the partition area that separated them from the aggressor mouse. C57 mice exhibited significant behavioral changes in response to stress. DBA strain mice showed lower susceptibility to SS than C57. When BABL/c mice were evaluated on the same scale of behavioral parameters, they showed intermediate levels of (SS) responses that were between the C57 and BALB/c responses.Genomic and epigenetic studies are underway to understand these differences in stress response.