Metabolic consequences of social stress in mice.

<p>A) Body weight changes in the baseline and in the stress phase. At baseline, all experimental groups showed a trend for a lower body weight gain than controls (Con) (F(3,39) = 2.6, p = 0.06). In the stress phase, subordinates (Sub) showed a larger body weight gain when compared to all other groups, which were not different from each other (F(3,38) = 4.6, p<0.01). Figure describes only post hoc comparisons to controls, * p<0.05; § p = 0.06. B) Body weight changes from baseline in Con and individually housed (Ind) mice starting from the first day of baseline. Ind showed a lower growth curve when compared to Con over the whole testing phase (F(1,15) = 6.3, p<0.05. * p<0.05. C) Food intake. Sub and dominants (Dom) mice under stress where hyperphagic when compared to baseline, Con and Ind mice (treatment, F(3,33) = 7.4, p<0.001; treatment x weeks F(9,99) = 3.8, p<0.001). In addition, Ind mice showed an overall lower level of kcal ingested when compared to controls. D) Visceral fat pads weight. Dom showed a smaller perigonadal (F(3,37 = 3.2, p<0.05), perirenal (F(3,37 = 3.2, p<0.05) and a trend for lower retroperitoneal (F(3,37 = 1.7, p = 0.1) pad weight than Con. * p<0.05, §p<0.07 vs. Con. E) Cumulative weight of visceral fat mass. Dom showed a reduction of visceral fat when compared to Con (F(3,37) = 2.3, p<0.1). * p<0.05 vs. Con.