Corticosterone 4 pregnen 11b diol 3 20 dione 21 hemisuccinate

NSC 23766 (NSC, Tocris) and Fluoxetine (Sigma, St Louis, MO, USA) were administrated intraperitoneally (i.p; 100 μL) at a concentration of 2.5 mg per kg body weight per day (mg kg^-1 day^-1) and 20 mg kg^-1 day^-1 respectively. Cysteamine (Sigma) was administrated at a concentration of 150 mg kg^-1 day^-1 through drinking water for 21 days. corticosterone (4-pregnen-11b-diol-3 20-dione 21-hemisuccinate; Sigma) was dissolved in vehicle (0.45% hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin, Sigma). corticosterone (35 μg/mL, equivalent to 5 mg kg^-1 day^-1) was delivered ad libitum in the drinking water. The dose and duration of corticosterone treatment in mice were selected based on earlier studies^{9 (link),25 (link)}, where the above dose and duration of treatment with CORT induced anxiety and depressive-like behaviors in mice. The fluid intake was monitored throughout the treatment period and the corticosterone dose was adjusted accordingly. Primary cortical neurons were treated with serotonin (5-HT; Sigma) at a concentration of 5-100 μM at DIV 5-7. In glucocorticoid receptor inhibitor studies, cells were treated with RU486 (1 μM; Sigma) 30 min before 48-h corticosterone (1 μM; Sigma) treatment. Neurons were treated with BDNF (prospec) at 100ng/ml for indicated time period.