Dynamics in brain activation and behaviour in acute and repeated social defensive behaviour.

ABSTRACT: In nature, confrontations between conspecifics are recurrent and related, in general, due to the lack of resources such as food and territory. Adequate defence against a conspecific aggressor is essential for the individual's survival and the group integrity. However, repeated social defeat is a significant stressor promoting several behavioural changes, including social defence per se. What would be the neural basis of these behavioural changes? To build new hypotheses about this, we here investigate the effects of repeated social stress on the neural circuitry underlying motivated social defence behaviour in male mice. We observed that animals re-exposed to the aggressor three times spent more time in passive defence during the last exposure than in the first one. These animals al

SUBMITTER: de Almeida AP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9198769 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature