Sex and estrous cycle effects on stress-enhanced fear learning in Long-Evans rats.

ABSTRACT: Individuals diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are hyperresponsive to otherwise ordinary stimuli (e.g., loud noises or certain smells) long after a traumatic experience. At a preclinical level, this persistent effect of trauma is captured in stress-enhanced fear learning (SEFL), in which a stressful experience in one context causes a persistent increase in fear conditioning with a mild stressor in a second context. Here, we characterized multiple behaviors (including freezing, rearing, darting, and jumping) in male and female Long-Evans rats during SEFL. Rats received a battery of foot shocks in one context followed by a mild stressor (single foot shock) in a second context. We found that males and females with a history of multiple shocks in one context had higher freezi

SUBMITTER: Lopez-Kawa SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12419549 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul-Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature