of the dendritic arborization of the amygdala (Vyas et al., 2002) and in the up-regulation of CRH activity in the central nucleus (Makino et al., 1994), potentially increasing reactivity of the threat response system. In contrast, chronic or frequent elevations of GCs have a restraining or down-regulating impact on CRH-producing cells in the hypothalamus, potentially maintaining normal to low GCs in response to chronic stress even in the face of lower thresholds for activating defensive behavior (i.e. fight/flight/freeze).
