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Social Buffering By Unfamiliar Adult Males In Periadolescent Guinea Pigs: The Effects On Hpa Axis Activity And Fos Induction In The Medial Prefrontal Cortex, Alexander Bertke

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In the guinea pig, the ability of the mother’s presence to buffer hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal (HPA) axis activation in her young during exposure to stressful stimuli has been well documented. Under similar testing conditions, other conspecifics (littermates, other adult females) are less effective in doing so. The effect does seem to wane with age but is still present to a significant degree in offspring approaching adolescence. However, we recently observed that an unfamiliar adult male buffered HPA axis activation and increased Fos expression in the prefrontal cortex of preweaning infants exposed to a novel enclosure at both 60 and 120 minutes …