Effect of dexamethasone on immune response of mice with different behavioral types

Experiments on a model of paired sensory contact showed that dexamethasone effectively suppressing the response to ACTH not only prevented immunosuppression in male C57Bl/6J mice with submissive behavior formed during different periods of confrontation testing (days 10 and 20), but also stimulated the immune response in comparison with the control. Immune response in aggressive animals after 20-day confrontations was higher than in controls and submissive mice and did not change after dexamethasone injection. The authors conclude that the immunosuppressive effect in submissive animals is realized through ACTH, which little contributes into immunomodulation in aggressive mice.