Social overcrowding as a chronic stress model that increases adiposity in XXXX .

@entity19 @entity148 @entity146
Stress is a widely recognized risk factor for @entity146 . A number of animal models utilizing various stressors have been developed to facilitate our understanding in the pathophysiology of stress-related dysfunctions. The most commonly used chronic stress paradigms include the unpredictable chronic mild stress paradigm, the social defeat paradigm and the social deprivation paradigm. Here we assess the potential of social crowding as an alternative chronic stress model to study the effects on affective behaviors and metabolic disturbances. Ten-week-old male C57BL/6 @entity19 were housed in groups of four (control) or eight (social crowding; SC) in standard cage for 9 weeks. Exploration, @entity148 - and @entity146 were assessed in the open field test, the elevated T-maze, the novelty-suppressed feeding test and the forced swim test. SC @entity19 exhibited a modest @entity148 -like phenotype without change in @entity146 . Nine weeks of social crowding did not affect the body weight, but robustly increased adiposity as determined by increased mass of fat depots. Consistent with the increased fat content, serum leptin was markedly elevated in the SC @entity19 . Specific changes in gene expression were also observed in the hypothalamus and the white adipose tissue following SC housing. Our study demonstrates the potential of social crowding as an alternative model for the study of stress-related @entity146 .
