Time- and sex-dependent effects of juvenile social isolation on mouse brain morphology.

During early life stages, social isolation disrupts the proper brain growth and brain circuit formation, which is associated with the risk of mental disorders and cognitive deficits in adulthood. Nevertheless, the impact of juvenile social isolation on brain development, particularly regarding variations across age and sex, remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate the effects of social isolation stress (SIS) during early (3-5 weeks old) or late (5-7 weeks old) juvenile period on brain morphology in adult male and female mice using ultra high-field MRI (11.