Figure 1
Schematic representation of the experimental timeline. Following arrival at day −13, all mice were housed individually for at least one week. Abdominal surgery was performed at day −6, one week prior to the start of the chronic subordinate colony housing (CSC) paradigm in one set of CSC and single-housed control (SHC) mice (SHCas; CSCas). On day 1 of the CSC paradigm, experimental CSC mice were housed together with a dominant male CD-1 mouse for 19 consecutive days to induce chronic psychosocial traumatization. To avoid habituation, CSC mice were introduced into the home cage of a novel aggressor mouse on days 8 and 15. Except for a weekly change of bedding, SHC mice remained undisturbed in their home cages for 19 consecutive days. All experimental mice were euthanized in the morning of day 20.
