Consequences of chronic social stress in mice Dissertation an der Fakultät für Biologie der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München vorgelegt von Dipl.-Biol. Vera Sterlemann geboren am 05.01.1978 in München München, Oktober 2007 2 1. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. R. Landgraf 2. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. G. Grupe Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 21.02.2008 3 4 Contents I Introduction 7 II Material and methods 19 III Result 31 1. Persistent neuroendocrine and behavioral effects of a novel, 32 etiologically relevant mouse paradigm for chronic social stress during adolescence 2. Long-term behavioral and neuroendocrine alterations following 48 chronic social stress during adolescence: implications for stress-related disorders 3. Lasting consequences of chronic stress during adolescence on 60 cognition 4. Long-term consequences of chronic stress during adolescence 69 on body fat distribution 5. Rimonabant treatment during chronic stress: behavioral, 74 neuroendocrine and metabolic consequences IV Discusion 87 V Sumary 95 VIReference list 101 Abbreviations 117 Assertation 121 Publications 123 Curriculum vitae 125 Acknowledgements 127 5 Introduction I Introduction 1.1 Chronic stress as a risk factor 1.