Sexual dimorphic effects of restraint stress on prefrontal cortical function are mediated by glucocorticoid receptor activation.

Stress, a major regulator and precipitating factor of cognitive and emotional disorders, differentially manifests between males and females. Our aim was to investigate the mechanisms underlying the sexual dimorphic effects of acute restraint stress (RS) on males and females on the function of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Adult male and female mice were subjected to RS or left in their home-cage (NR), and then tested in the light-dark test followed by the temporal order object recognition (TOR) task.