In concert with neuropeptides and transmitters, the end products of the hypothalamus-
pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the glucocorticoid hormones cortisol and corticosterone …

Obesity is a major health risk, with junk food consumption playing a central role in weight
gain, because of its high palatability and high-energy nutrients. The Cafeteria (CAF) diet …

Despite evidence supporting a role for oxytocin (OT) in regulating social behavior,
surprisingly little is known about how this neuropeptide is calibrated during development …

Early-life stress (ELS) is associated with increased vulnerability to mental disorders. The
basolateral amygdala (BLA) plays a critical role in fear conditioning and is extremely …

Early-life stress (ELS) leads to increased vulnerability to psychiatric disorders including
depression later in life. Neuroinflammatory processes have been implicated in ELS-induced …

The acquired immobility response during the “forced swim test (FST)” is not a rodent model
of depression, but the test has some validity in predicting a compound's antidepressant …

Addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder with devastating personal, societal, and economic
consequences. In humans, early‐life adversity (ELA) such as trauma, neglect, and resource …

Exposure to early-life adversity (ELA) increases the risk for psychopathologies associated
with amygdala-prefrontal cortex (PFC) circuits. While sex differences in vulnerability have …

Low statistical power reduces the reliability of animal research; yet, increasing sample sizes
to increase statistical power is problematic for both ethical and practical reasons. We present …

Two-thirds of individuals experience adversity during childhood such as neglect, abuse or
highly-stressful events. Early-life adversity (ELA) increases the life-long risk of developing …