The Effect Of Repeated Social Defeat On High Mobility Group Box-1 MRNA Expression In The Dorsal Hippocampus

Abstract

Repeated Social Defeat (RSD) is a paradigm that induces stress on mice. By introducing an intruder mouse into the home cage of several other mice, we introduce a stressful situation. Past studies have shown that this stress can cause inflammation in the brains of these mice. High Mobility Group Box Protein One (HMGB1) is the protein capable of priming the immune system to respond to a challenge. Therefore, if the stress paradigm, RSD, increases the expression of HMGB1, then it would support the hypothesis that stress can influence the immune system by increasing the expression of HMGB1. This study purposed measuring the amount of HMGB1 between control groups and groups that received RSD. We witnessed an increase in HMGB1 in mice that had undergone RSD when compared to home cage control animals that did not receive any treatment.