Adolescent predatory stress increases peripheral TNFα response to LPS regardless of sex

Abstract

Chronic adolescent stress has been shown to cause increased adverse effects in response to an immune stressor later in life including the development of anxiety and PTSD. Following stress, the production of inflammatory cytokines including IL-1β and TNFα is expected to increase in response to an immune challenge such as LPS. Male and female mice underwent fifteen consecutive days of predatory stress. Chronic adolescent stress was shown to increase both anxiety-like behavior (F(1, 28) = 19.82, p = 0.0001) and TNFα levels within the periphery (F(1, 19) = 4.748, p = 0.0421).