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 studies9 (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.