Men and women have been known to react differently to the same stressors, but the underlying cause is not well understood. Various researchers have compared different parts of the stress response pathway between sexes to try and pinpoint the alteration, but none have been successful. Understanding differences in stress responses are critical as they can result in variations in psychiatric disease between sexes. Further understanding of the mechanisms behind this sex difference in stress response is necessary to improve treatment and prevention techniques of these diseases.<br/>Previous work has shown that females respond differently to stress than males. One study found that females tend to drink more alcohol than males following identical stressors. One proposed target in understanding these behavioral differences are microglia in stress-regulating regions of the brain. Microglia are the innate immune cells of the central nervous system. One study found that increased microglia activation was correlated with chronic stress and resulted in a decrease in working memory function in rodents. The amygdala is the area of the brain responsible for emotional processing, and when a stressor arises, the amygdala senses fear and sends a signal to the hypothalamus. Activation of the HPA axis results in the release of cortisol (corticosterone for rodents), the stress hormone.<br/>To induce chronic stress, a paradigm of five stressors (24hr damp bedding, 1hr shaker, 2hr restraint, 5min cold swim, 10min warm swim) randomly delivered twice daily for 14 consecutive days to eight male mice and six female mice was used. The control groups of six males and seven female mice were not succumbed to any stressors. This research suggests a trend of increasing alcohol consumption after chronic variable stress, specifically in male mice. Elevated plus maze data suggests that the stress paradigm was effective in inducing chronic stress as the time spent in the closed arm differed between the control and experimental groups.<br/>Further research is needed to support these suggested trends, and to analyze the microglia differences between male and female mice within the amygdala.

Sex specific differences of mu-opioid receptors on microglia in the amygdala of mice in response to chronic variable stress

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.