ABSTRACT
New hypotheses regarding affective disorders suggest a critical role for cellular resilience and plasticity. Bcl-2 is a central protein in these processes and is elevated by mood stabilizers and antidepressants. In previous studies, mice with targeted mutations of Bcl-2 showed anxiety-related behavioral changes. The present study further explored the relationship between Bcl-2 and behavior using mice with a targeted mutation but with a different background strain than previously tested. Bcl-2 heterozygous mice (B6;129S2-Bcl-2