TY - JOUR
T1 - Acute episodes of predator exposure in conjunction with chronic social instability as an animal model of post-traumatic stress disorder
AU - Zoladz, Phillip R.
AU - Conrad, Cheryl
AU - Fleshner, Monika
AU - Diamond, David M.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Edward Levine, Kristen Salomon and Paula Bickford for their constructive input regarding the design of the experiments. We also appreciate the constructive criticisms of an earlier version of this work by the three anonymous reviewers and the editor. This work was supported by a VA Merit Review Award to DMD and an NIMH grant to CDC.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - People who are exposed to horrific, life-threatening experiences are at risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some of the symptoms of PTSD include persistent anxiety, exaggerated startle, cognitive impairments and increased sensitivity to yohimbine, an α2-adrenergic receptor antagonist. We have taken into account the conditions known to induce PTSD, as well as factors responsible for long-term maintenance of the disorder, to develop an animal model of PTSD. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were administered a total of 31 days of psychosocial stress, composed of acute and chronic components. The acute component was a 1-h stress session (immobilization during cat exposure), which occurred on Days 1 and 11. The chronic component was that on all 31 days the rats were given unstable housing conditions. We found that psychosocially stressed rats had reduced growth rate, reduced thymus weight, increased adrenal gland weight, increased anxiety, an exaggerated startle response, cognitive impairments, greater cardiovascular and corticosterone reactivity to an acute stressor and heightened responsivity to yohimbine. This work demonstrates the effectiveness of acute inescapable episodes of predator exposure administered in conjunction with daily social instability as an animal model of PTSD.
AB - People who are exposed to horrific, life-threatening experiences are at risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some of the symptoms of PTSD include persistent anxiety, exaggerated startle, cognitive impairments and increased sensitivity to yohimbine, an α2-adrenergic receptor antagonist. We have taken into account the conditions known to induce PTSD, as well as factors responsible for long-term maintenance of the disorder, to develop an animal model of PTSD. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were administered a total of 31 days of psychosocial stress, composed of acute and chronic components. The acute component was a 1-h stress session (immobilization during cat exposure), which occurred on Days 1 and 11. The chronic component was that on all 31 days the rats were given unstable housing conditions. We found that psychosocially stressed rats had reduced growth rate, reduced thymus weight, increased adrenal gland weight, increased anxiety, an exaggerated startle response, cognitive impairments, greater cardiovascular and corticosterone reactivity to an acute stressor and heightened responsivity to yohimbine. This work demonstrates the effectiveness of acute inescapable episodes of predator exposure administered in conjunction with daily social instability as an animal model of PTSD.
KW - Animal model
KW - Anxiety
KW - Corticosterone
KW - Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
KW - Startle
KW - Trauma
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U2 - 10.1080/10253890701768613
DO - 10.1080/10253890701768613
M3 - Article
C2 - 18574787
AN - SCOPUS:46049106343
SN - 1025-3890
VL - 11
SP - 259
EP - 281
JO - Stress
JF - Stress
IS - 4
ER -