Mentor: Paul Reidy, Ph.D.

In an overarching study, only the male mice were beginning to fight each other in their cages at around 1-4 months old

This raised the question of if the fighting was a stress response due to early-life treatment and if the females were more resilient

This study looks at the behavioral effects on mice (n=38) at 4 months old due to varying levels of early life treatment (3 to 5 weeks postnatal)

Treatment groups consist of:

Voluntary wheel runners (VWR) who have access to a larger cage and wheel their entire life. Early life activity (ELA) who have access to a larger cage and wheel for 2 weeks. Sedentary control (SED) who remain in an IVC cage their entire life. Small mouse cage (SMC) who live in condensed housing for 2 weeks. Hind-limb unloaded (HU) who have their back legs suspended for 2 weeks

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