Different neural circuitry is involved in physiological and psychological stress-induced PTSD-like "nightmares" in rats.

ABSTRACT: Posttraumatic nightmares are a core component of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mechanistically linked to the development and maintenance of this disorder, but little is known about their mechanism. We utilized a communication box to establish an animal model of physiological stress (foot-shock [FS]) and psychological stress (PS) to mimic the direct suffering and witnessing of traumatic events. Twenty-one days after traumatic stress, some of the experimental animals presented startled awakening (i.e., were startled awake by a supposed "nightmare") with different electroencephalographic spectra features. Our neuroanatomical results showed that the secondary somatosensory cortex and primary auditory cortex may play an important role in remote traumatic memory retrieval in FS "night

SUBMITTER: Yu B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4632128 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature