CORT and major depressive disorder: Offspring of C57Bl/6J mice whose fathers experienced chronic social defeat prior to mating showed increases in anxiety- and depression-like behaviors and males showed higher basal CORT levels (Dietz et al., 2011) while offspring of Balb c/J mice whose father showed increased exploratory behavior in an open field arena themselves displayed increased novel environment exploration (Alter et al., 2009).