Abstract
Social hierarchy formation is strongly evolutionarily conserved. Across species, rank within social hierarchy has large effects on health and behavior. To investigate the relationship between social rank and stress susceptibility, we exposed ranked male and female mice to social and non-social stressors and manipulated social hierarchy position. We found that rank predicts same sex social stress outcomes: dominance in males and females confers resilience while subordination confers susceptibility. Pre-existing rank does not predict non-social stress outcomes in females and weakly does so in males, but rank emerging under stress conditions reveals social interaction deficits in male and female subordinates. Both history of winning and rank of cage mates affect stress susceptibility in males: rising to the top rank through high mobility confers resilience and mice that lose dominance lose stress resilience, although gaining dominance over a subordinate animal does not confer resilience. Overall, we have demonstrated a relationship between social status and stress susceptibility, particularly when taking into account individual history of winning and the overall hierarchy landscape in male and female mice.
Highlights
The formation of social hierarchies is an evolutionarily conserved phenomenon having been observed across species from insects and fish to rodents, non-human primates, and humans (Bonabeau et al, 1999)
Male and female social hierarchies had no significant differences in the number of non-linear days, days in which tube tests results were not fully transitive, (Figure 1B)
David’s Score (DS) weights wins from individual pairings relative to the hierarchy position of the opponent, with wins over more dominant animals weighted more than over subordinate animals
Summary
The formation of social hierarchies is an evolutionarily conserved phenomenon having been observed across species from insects and fish to rodents, non-human primates, and humans (Bonabeau et al, 1999). While SES is not equivalent to animal rank, human social rank is the consequence of an interplay between multiple factors, including gender, race, education, and wealth, a similar pattern of deleterious health outcomes associated with low rank has been observed in animals (Backström and Winberg, 2017; Bartolomucci et al, 2005; Cavigelli and Caruso, 2015; Czoty et al, 2009; Fuchs et al, 1995; Gruenewald et al, 2006; Sapolsky, 2005; Schuhr, 1987; Sherman and Mehta, 2020; Yodyingyuad et al, 1985). These findings have led to the proposal that differential exposure to psychosocial stress due to one’s social standing could lay the foundation for future health risks
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