Repeated social defeat increases reactive emotional coping behavior and alters functional responses in serotonergic neurons in the rat dorsal raphe nucleus.

Chronic stress is a vulnerability factor for a number of psychiatric disorders, including anxiety and affective disorders. Social defeat in rats has proven to be a useful paradigm to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying physiologic and behavioral adaptation to acute and chronic stress. Previous studies suggest that serotonergic systems may contribute to the physiologic and behavioral adaptation to chronic stress, including social defeat in rodent models.