Sex differences have been observed across many psychiatric diseases, especially mood
disorders. For major depression, the most prevalent psychiatric disorder, females show a …

Through incorporating both physical and psychological forms of stressors, a variety of rodent
models have provided important insights into the understanding of stress physiology …

Variation in maternal care can lead to divergent developmental trajectories in offspring with
implications for neuroendocrine function and behavioral phenotypes. Study of the long-term …

Depression is one of the most disabling medical conditions in the world today, yet its
etiologies remain unclear and current treatments are not wholly effective. Animal models are …

Fear behavior is under tight control of the prefrontal cortex, but the underlying microcircuit
mechanism remains elusive. In particular, it is unclear how distinct subtypes of inhibitory …

Social fear and avoidance of social situations represent the main behavioral symptoms of
social anxiety disorder (SAD), a highly prevalent anxiety disorder that is poorly elucidated …

Mood and anxiety disorders are prevalent conditions affecting one out of four people during
lifetime. The development of high validity animal models to study these disorders has been a …

Recent findings in epigenetics shed new light on the regulation of gene expression in the
central nervous system (CNS) during stress. The most frequently studied epigenetic …

Epigenetic mechanisms, which control chromatin structure and function, mediate changes in
gene expression that occur in response to diverse stimuli. Recent research has established …

Psychiatric disorders are complex multifactorial disorders involving chronic alterations in
neural circuit structure and function. While genetic factors play a role in the etiology of …