The STRONG STAR Multidisciplinary PTSD Research Consortium
Abstract
The hypothesis addressed by this project is that early life exposure to stress or glucocorticoids produces a distinct neurochemical and behavioral phenotype characterized by life-long vulnerability to stressors that trigger PTSD. Moreover, we hypothesize that the susceptibility to PTSD can be reversed in adult offspring by SSRI treatment. The goals for this year were to validate a model of prenatal stress, determine if the offspring exhibit behavioral and neurochemical phenotypes that are more responsive to stress and determine if exposure to traumatic stress (massed footshock; MFS) results in PTSD-like behaviors. We proposed to determine the effects of treatments with the SSRI sertraline in reversing the PTSD-like behaviors. We found a distinct behavioral and neurochemical phenotype in adult rats that had been exposed to prenatal stress. They exhibited greater response to stressful stimuli as measured by locomotor activity in a novel or stressful environment and had higher levels of dopamine and serotonin the neostriatum. However, MFS proved to be neither a valid nor useful model of PTSD. It failed to affect the most relevant behavioral measures, and confounded fear conditioning. Thus, we plan instead to test a modified Single Prolonged Stress (SPS) model that has been reported to elicit relevant behavioral effects and retains the temporal features of MFS that made it amenable to acute pharmacological intervention. We will then test sertraline in this model.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA515352
Entities
People
- Randy Strong
Organizations
- University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio