Figure 2
From: Early hippocampal volume loss as a marker of eventual memory deficits caused by repeated stress
Physiological effects of stress.
(a) Chronic stress impairs bodyweight gain. Body weights normalized (mean ± SEM) to the body weight on day1 (the day stress commenced) for all the animals. The normalized body weights of the unstressed (N = 10) are significantly greater than the stressed (N = 9) groups from day4 to day14. (Factor stress: F(1, 140) = 132.1, p < 0.0001; Factor days: F(13, 140) = 2.315, p = 0.0082; interaction: F(13, 140) = 2.872, p = 0.0011). Asterisk indicates significant differences (*p < 0.05 level, Sidak’s test for multiple comparisons). (b,c) Stress enhances anxiety-like behavior measured in the open-field test. (b) Representative tracks depicting one unstressed and one stressed animal’s path during open field exploration. The red lines represent the path of the animal. The black dot represents the center of the arena. The black circle represents the outer boundary of the arena. The blue circle represents the boundary of the area defined as the center area of the arena (see materials and methods). (c) Quantification of behavior during open-field exploration. The values plotted represent mean. The error bars represent the SEM. (Left) Time spent in the center area. (Middle) Percentage path length travelled in the center area. (Right) Total path length travelled. The stressed (N = 9) group shows significantly lower time (Unpaired t-test: p = 0.0490) and percentage path travelled in the center area (Unpaired t-test: p = 0.0263) than the unstressed (N = 10) group. An asterisk indicates significant differences (*p < 0.05 level).
