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Fig. 9 | Biology Direct

Fig. 9

From: Onset, timing, and exposure therapy of stress disorders: mechanistic insight from a mathematical model of oscillating neuroendocrine dynamics

Fig. 9

Stress timing and transition to low-cortisol oscillating state. Cortisol levels in response to I ext=0.1 applied over 250 min. a If stress is initiated at T=150 min, a transition to the low-cortisol diseased state is triggered. b If stress is initiated at T=120 min, the system returns to its normal high-cortisol state. Note that the first peak (marked by “\(\blacktriangledown \)”) during the stress in (a) is higher than the first peak in (b). c If stress is initiated at T=150 min, stress cessation and the slow relaxation along the c-nullcline during stress are sufficient to bring q just left of the separatrix, inducing the transition. d For initiation time T=120 min, q remains to the right of the separatrix, precluding the transition

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