Sepsis survivor mice exhibit a behavioral endocrine syndrome with ventral hippocampal dysfunction.

ABSTRACT: Severe acute stressors are known to trigger mood disorders in humans. Sepsis represents one such stressor, and survivors often suffer long term from psychiatric morbidity. We hypothesized that sepsis leads to lasting changes in neural circuits involved in stress integration, altering affective behavior and the stress response. To investigate this hypothesis, sepsis was induced in male C57Bl/6 mice using cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), and control mice underwent sham surgery. Mice recovered from acute illness within 2 weeks, after which they exhibited increased avoidance behavior and behavioral despair compared with sham, with behavioral changes observed more than 5 weeks after recovery. Sepsis survivors also showed evidence of enhanced hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity,

SUBMITTER: Spencer-Segal JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7845932 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature