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Abstract
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop after exposure to traumatic events and severely impacts the quality of life. PTSD is frequently comorbid with substance use disorders, with alcoholism being particularly common. However, not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD and the factors that render individuals susceptible or resilient to the effects of stress are unknown although gender appears to play an important role. Rodent models of stress exposure such as stress-enhanced fear learning (SEFL) recapitulate some aspects of PTSD symptomology, making them an invaluable tool for studying this disorder. This study examined whether exposure to a modified version of the SEFL procedure (4 footshocks instead of the standard 15 over 90 min) would reveal both susceptible and resilient subjects. Following stress exposure, distinct susceptible and resilient groups emerged that differed in fear learning and anxiety-related behavior as well as voluntary alcohol intake. Some aspects of stress susceptibility manifested differently in males compared to females, with susceptibility associated with increased alcohol intake in males and increased baseline anxiety in females.
Highlights
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may develop after exposure to traumatic events and severely impacts the quality of life
While several rodent models of stress exposure have been developed to study PTSD, a need remains for models that can probe the individual variability in responses to stress in both male and female subjects (Richter-Levin et al, 2019; Shansky, 2015)
We demonstrate that a modified version of the stress-enhanced fear learning (SEFL) procedure can be used to study the factors that promote susceptibility versus resilience to the effects of stress
Summary
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may develop after exposure to traumatic events and severely impacts the quality of life. PTSD patients experience a number of debilitating symptoms including hypervigilance and avoidance of stimuli reminiscent of the trauma (APA, 2013). Despite the high burden of this disorder, its mechanisms are not fully understood and currently available treatments such as exposure therapy are not always effective (Craske et al, 2008; Hembree et al, 2003; Milad et al, 2009). It has been estimated that while approximately one third of the population will experience a trauma during their lifetime, only 10–20% of these individuals will develop PTSD with women twice as likely to develop the disorder compared to men (Brunello et al, 2001; Kessler et al, 1995, 2017). Determining the factors that promote susceptibility or resilience to developing the disorder is crucial for understanding the disorder and developing more effective, targeted treatments
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