Social Rank Affects Vulnerability to Stress

(EPFL, July 13, 2017)

With the help of a mouse model, EPFL scientists have identified rank in social hierarchies as a major determining factor for vulnerability to chronic stress. Applying an in vivo neuroimaging technique, they have also shown that energy metabolism in the brain is a predictive biomarker for social status as well as stress vulnerability and resilience. These findings reinforce the view that losing status is more pertinent to depression than social subordination. In the future, it will be important to study whether social status can also predict depression or anxiety when individuals are chronically exposed to stressors of a non-social nature.