Figure 1. Schematic representation of experimental groups.

In experiment #1, we compared animals treated subcutaneously with corticosterone (CORT) or vehicle (VEHC) daily for 17 days with animals treated for 21 days; the latter groups also received the vehicle of mifepristone (VEHM) on days 18–21. In experiment #2, the 21 ds CORT/VEHC+ds 18–21 VEHM were used as statistical reference groups in a comparison with experimental groups receiving mifepristone on d18 only (21ds CORT+ds18 MIF and 21ds VEHC+ds18 MIF) or on 4 days from 18–21 (21ds CORT+ds18–21 MIF and 21ds VEHC+ds18–21 MIF). All animals were treated with BrdU on day 1 and sacrificed on the morning after the last treatment.