Figure 3. Maternal separation enhances seizure-induced corticosterone release in adult rats.

(A) Female rats exposed to maternal separation (MS – closed boxes) display HPA axis hyper-responsivity to seizures compared with rats exposed to early handling (EH – open boxes), as evidenced by significantly enhanced corticosterone release following seizures (*p<0.05). (B) In males, a similar trend was observed, but this did not reach statistical significance. Data represent mean ± SEM, numbers in each group indicated in parentheses.