Heterogeneity in Stress Effects on Fear Learning, Ethanol Consumption and Anxiety

项目摘要 一小部分但很大比例的人经历了创伤性的，危及生命的事件， 创伤后应激障碍（PTSD），其特征是高度焦虑， 恐惧处理紊乱这种情况在女性中更为普遍。此外，创伤后应激障碍是高度共病 还有其他精神疾病特别是酗酒我们开发了一种动物模型， 创伤后应激障碍的许多特征，因此应该有助于发展对生物学的理解。 这些变化产生了疾病，并提出了新的治疗方法。这里我们建议使用一个较温和的重音 比我们在已发表的研究中使用的要多，因为它产生的恐惧学习的比例更小， 动物（18%），更接近人类的PTSD率。受到这种压力的老鼠会 通过一系列焦虑、恐惧处理和酒精摄入的测试。我们将以此为 一个工具来了解PTSD症状如何组合在一起形成亚型，以及这些亚型如何与 导致适应不良行为的大脑变化

PROJECT ABSTRACT A small but significant percentage of people that experience a traumatic, life-threatening, event develop a condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is characterized by heightened anxiety and disturbed fear processing. The condition is more prevalent in women. Additionally, PTSD is highly comorbid with other psychiatric conditions notably alcohol abuse. We have developed an animal model that captures many of the features of PTSD and as such should be helpful in developing an understanding of the biological changes that produce the disorder and suggesting novel treatments. Here we propose to use a milder stress than we have used in our published work because it produces enhanced fear learning in a smaller proportion of animals (18%) that better approximates the rate of PTSD in humans. The rats subjected to this stress will be tested on a number of measures of anxiety, altered fear processing and alcohol intake. We will use this as a tool to understand how PTSD symptoms group together to form subtypes and how these subtypes relate to the brain changes that cause maladaptive behavior.