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Effects Of Dominance Status On Neural Activity In Stress-Sensitive Neuronal Pathways, Steve Cabanatan Mahometano

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The central amygdala, CeA, is an important brain region that regulates behavioral changes in response to stressful and fear-inducing stimuli. Social subordination is a stressful experience that can activate neurons in the CeA. Social subordination is associated with increased stress sensitivity and elevated fear responses while social dominance is associated with stress resilience. The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is a stress-sensitive brain region that receives robust input from CeA neurons The objective of this study was to determine if dominant and subordinate hamsters differ in stress/fear-induced activation of CeA cells projecting to the BNST. I hypothesize that …