The brain on stress: Insight from studies using the Visible Burrow System

• The social environment is important for behavioral and neuroendocrine function.
• The VBS is a relevant neuroethological animal model to study social stress.
• Social subordination stress has widespread effects on brain, behavior and physiology.
• Dominant animals also experience consequences of social stress.
• Bob Blanchard's legacy is perpetuated through his influence on trainees.

The discovery of adrenal steroid receptors outside of the hypothalamus in the hippocampus and other forebrain regions catalyzed research on the effects of stress upon cognitive function, emotions and self-regulatory behaviors as well as the molecular, cellular and neuroanatomical mechanisms underlying acute and chronic stress effects on the brain. Indeed, this work has shown that the brain is a plastic and vulnerable organ in the face of acute and chronic stress. The insight that Bob and Caroline Blanchard had in developing and interpreting findings using the Visible Burrow System model made an enormous contribution to the current view that the human brain is very sensitive to the social environment and to agonistic interactions between individuals. Their collaboration with Sakai and McEwen at The Rockefeller University extended application of the Visible Burrow System model to demonstrate that it also was a unique and highly relevant neuroethological model with which to study stress and adaptation to stressors. Those studies focused on the brain and systemic organ responses to stress and, in turn, described that the brain is also very responsive to changes in systemic physiology.