Contextual exploration previous to an aversive event predicts long-term emotional consequences of severe stress
Traumatic stress can lead to long-term emotional alterations, which may result in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Fear reactions triggered by conditioned cues and exacerbated emotional arousal in face of non-conditioned stimuli are among the most prominent features of PTSD. We hypothesized tha...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2013-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00134/full |
| _version_ | 1811197914997850112 |
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| author | Carlos Eduardo Neves Girardi Paula Ayako Tiba Paula Ayako Tiba Gisela Biagio Llobet Raquel eLevin Vanessa Costhek Abílio Vanessa Costhek Abílio Deborah eSuchecki |
| author_facet | Carlos Eduardo Neves Girardi Paula Ayako Tiba Paula Ayako Tiba Gisela Biagio Llobet Raquel eLevin Vanessa Costhek Abílio Vanessa Costhek Abílio Deborah eSuchecki |
| author_sort | Carlos Eduardo Neves Girardi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Traumatic stress can lead to long-term emotional alterations, which may result in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Fear reactions triggered by conditioned cues and exacerbated emotional arousal in face of non-conditioned stimuli are among the most prominent features of PTSD. We hypothesized that long-term emotional alterations seen in PTSD may depend on the strength of context-trauma association. Here, we investigated the contribution of previous contextual exploration to the long-term emotional outcomes of an intense foot shock in rats. We exposed male Wistar rats to a highly stressful event (foot shock, 2 mA, 1 s) allowing them to explore or not the chamber prior to trauma. We, then, evaluated the long-term effects on emotionality. Fear was assessed by the time spent in freezing behavior either upon re-exposure to trauma context or upon exposure to an unknown environment made potentially more aversive by presentation of an acoustic stimulus. Behaviors on the elevated-plus-maze and acoustic startle response were also assessed. The possibility to explore the environment immediately before the aversive event led to differential long-term emotional effects, including a heightened freezing response to re-exposure to context, blunted exploratory behavior, fear sensitization and exacerbation of the acoustic startle response, in contrast to the minor outcomes of the foot shock with no prior context exploration. The data showed the strong contribution of contextual learning to long-term behavioral effects of traumatic stress. We argue that contextual representation contributes to the robust long-term behavioral alterations seen in this model of traumatic stress. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T01:22:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c86a4e03ede047c3a08cdbc38c8c73d8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5153 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T01:22:14Z |
| publishDate | 2013-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-c86a4e03ede047c3a08cdbc38c8c73d82022-12-22T03:53:45ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience1662-51532013-10-01710.3389/fnbeh.2013.0013462589Contextual exploration previous to an aversive event predicts long-term emotional consequences of severe stressCarlos Eduardo Neves Girardi0Paula Ayako Tiba1Paula Ayako Tiba2Gisela Biagio Llobet3Raquel eLevin4Vanessa Costhek Abílio5Vanessa Costhek Abílio6Deborah eSuchecki7Universidade de São PauloUniversidade Federal do ABCUniversidade de São PauloUniversidade de São PauloUniversidade Federal de São PauloUniversidade Federal de São PauloUniversidade Federal de São PauloUniversidade de São PauloTraumatic stress can lead to long-term emotional alterations, which may result in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Fear reactions triggered by conditioned cues and exacerbated emotional arousal in face of non-conditioned stimuli are among the most prominent features of PTSD. We hypothesized that long-term emotional alterations seen in PTSD may depend on the strength of context-trauma association. Here, we investigated the contribution of previous contextual exploration to the long-term emotional outcomes of an intense foot shock in rats. We exposed male Wistar rats to a highly stressful event (foot shock, 2 mA, 1 s) allowing them to explore or not the chamber prior to trauma. We, then, evaluated the long-term effects on emotionality. Fear was assessed by the time spent in freezing behavior either upon re-exposure to trauma context or upon exposure to an unknown environment made potentially more aversive by presentation of an acoustic stimulus. Behaviors on the elevated-plus-maze and acoustic startle response were also assessed. The possibility to explore the environment immediately before the aversive event led to differential long-term emotional effects, including a heightened freezing response to re-exposure to context, blunted exploratory behavior, fear sensitization and exacerbation of the acoustic startle response, in contrast to the minor outcomes of the foot shock with no prior context exploration. The data showed the strong contribution of contextual learning to long-term behavioral effects of traumatic stress. We argue that contextual representation contributes to the robust long-term behavioral alterations seen in this model of traumatic stress.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00134/fullPTSDanimal modelemotional behaviorPsychiatric disordercontext fear conditioningcontextual configuration |
| spellingShingle | Carlos Eduardo Neves Girardi Paula Ayako Tiba Paula Ayako Tiba Gisela Biagio Llobet Raquel eLevin Vanessa Costhek Abílio Vanessa Costhek Abílio Deborah eSuchecki Contextual exploration previous to an aversive event predicts long-term emotional consequences of severe stress Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience PTSD animal model emotional behavior Psychiatric disorder context fear conditioning contextual configuration |
| title | Contextual exploration previous to an aversive event predicts long-term emotional consequences of severe stress |
| title_full | Contextual exploration previous to an aversive event predicts long-term emotional consequences of severe stress |
| title_fullStr | Contextual exploration previous to an aversive event predicts long-term emotional consequences of severe stress |
| title_full_unstemmed | Contextual exploration previous to an aversive event predicts long-term emotional consequences of severe stress |
| title_short | Contextual exploration previous to an aversive event predicts long-term emotional consequences of severe stress |
| title_sort | contextual exploration previous to an aversive event predicts long term emotional consequences of severe stress |
| topic | PTSD animal model emotional behavior Psychiatric disorder context fear conditioning contextual configuration |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00134/full |
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