1. The effect of social instability stress on levels of corticosterone in the plasma of female mice KENDRA LANGRECK MENTOR: DR. MICHAEL JARCHO

2. Background  Stress:  Acute  Chronic  Stress in mice:  Social Instability:  Social Isolation  Overcrowding

3. Background  Corticosterone  Equivalent to cortisol in humans  Factors that influence release:  Stress  Metabolic Need

4. Hypothesis  Social instability will cause an increase in corticosterone in the plasma of female mice.

5. Experimental Design  Experimental Timeline:  5 weeks baseline  5 weeks experimental conditions  Plasma Corticosterone Collection  Five Control and Six Experimental  5 weeks recovery  24 Adult Female Mice:  12 Control  Three mice per cage  12 Experimental  Isolation (One mouse per cage)  Overcrowding (Five mice per cage)

6. Methods  11 mice (5 control & 6 experimental)  Humanely sacrificed  Carbon Dioxide Asphyxiation  Cardiac Puncture  Corticosterone Enzyme Immunoassay  96 Well Plate  Spectrometer  Data Analysis  Two-tailed, Independent Samples T-test Alpha level: 0.05

7. Results Figure 1. The average corticosterone concentration in the plasma of the control group and the experimental group. 48166±14463.31t(7)=1.267 p=0.241 29827.6±5789.123

8. Conclusion  Potential Factors:  Age  Kizaki et al. (2000)  Food Intake  Denver et al. (2004)  Activity  Garland & Girard (2002)

9. Conclusion  Implications of this study:  Evaluation of a chronic stressor  Control variables

10. Conclusion  Experimental Issues:  Variability  Low Sample Size

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