FIGURE 3.

Dexamethasone (DEX) treatment induces significant and persistent changes in adrenal gene expression. (A) Hypothalamus. DEX treatment did not affect gene expression of Avp, Crh, Nr3C1, or Nr3c2 in whole hypothalamus (data from Experiment 1). (B,C) Adrenal. DEX reduced the adrenal expression of the adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) receptor (Mc2r), steroidogenic enzymes (Cyp11a1 Hsd3b2 and Star) and increased expression of the glucocorticoid receptor (Nr3c1) and mineralocorticoid receptor (Nr3c2). Data are shown from Experiment 1 (am panels) and Experiment 2 (pm panels). For ease of comparison, control samples from each time point in Experiment 1 have been combined, delta delta Ct (ddCT) values were made in comparison to time‐matched adrenal glands. Grey bars represent control mice (group A); yellow represent those who have had 4 weeks of DEX treatment (group B); blue represent those 1 week after withdrawal of DEX (group C); and green represent those 4 weeks after treatment withdrawal (group D). Data analysed by a linear mixed model with group as dependent variable and cage as random factor. Tukey‐adjusted post‐hoc tests compared to control group are indicated above bars (small asterixis) where significant differences were identified. ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05 (n = 6–12 animals from three or four cages)