Paradoxical sleep deprivation activates hypothalamic nuclei that regulate food intake and stress response
A large body of evidence has shown that prolonged paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD) results in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activation, and in loss of body weight despite an apparent increase of food intake, reflecting increased energy expenditure. The flowerpot technique for PSD is an efficient paradigm for investigating the relationships among metabolic regulation and stress response. […]
Sex differences in the effects of two stress paradigms on dopaminergic neurotransmission
Sex differences in behavioral and neurobiological responses to stress are considered to modulate the prevalence of some psychiatric disorders, including major depression. In the present study, we compared dopaminergic neurotransmission and behavior in response to two different stress paradigms, the Forced Swim Test (FST) and the Chronic Mild Stress (CMS). Male and female rats were […]
Amygdala Size and Hypothalamus Size Predict Social Play Frequency in Nonhuman Primates: A Comparative Analysis Using Independent Contrasts
The amygdala and hypothalamus become sexually differentiated by gonadal hormones giving rise to sexually differentiated behaviors, which include play behavior. Phylogenetic comparative analyses test for relationships between social play and brain structure volumes. Relative volume of the amygdala and hypothalamus correlated with social play, but not nonsocial play, even after controlling for the size of […]
Neurological and stress related effects of shifting obese rats from a palatable diet to chow and lean rats from chow to a palatable diet
Rats exposed to an energy rich, cafeteria diet overeat and become obese. The present experiment examined the neural and behavioural effects of shifting obese rats from this diet to chow and lean rats from chow to the cafeteria diet. Two groups of male Sprague Dawley rats (n = 24) were fed either highly palatable cafeteria […]
Are age and sex differences in brain oxytocin receptors related to maternal and infanticidal behavior in naïve mice?
This article is part of a Special Issue “Parental Care”. There is significant variability in the behavioral responses displayed by naïve young and adult mice when first exposed to pups. This variability has been associated with differences in the expression of oxytocin receptors (OXTRs) in the brain in several species. Experiment I investigated the behavioral […]