Thermal signature of fear conditioning in mild post traumatic stress disorder

Neuroscience ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 266 ◽  
pp. 216-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Di Giacinto ◽  
M. Brunetti ◽  
G. Sepede ◽  
A. Ferretti ◽  
A. Merla
Keyword(s):  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Thermal Signature

scholarly journals Increased Vocalization of Rats in Response to Ultrasonic Playback as a Sign of Hypervigilance Following Fear Conditioning

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 970
Author(s):  
Krzysztof H. Olszyński ◽  
Rafał Polowy ◽  
Agnieszka D. Wardak ◽  
Aneta W. Grymanowska ◽  
Robert K. Filipkowski
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Locomotor Activity ◽  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Ultrasonic Vocalizations ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Prior Stress

We investigated the effects of prior stress on rats’ responses to 50-kHz (appetitive) and 22-kHz (aversive) ultrasonic playback. Rats were treated with 0, 1, 6 or 10 shocks (1 s, 1.0 mA each) and were exposed to playbacks the following day. Previous findings were confirmed: (i) rats moved faster during 50-kHz playback and slowed down after 22-kHz playback; (ii) they all approached the speaker, which was more pronounced during and following 50-kHz playback than 22-kHz playback; (iii) 50-kHz playback caused heart rate (HR) increase; 22-kHz playback caused HR decrease; (iv) the rats vocalized more often during and following 50-kHz playback than 22-kHz playback. The previous shock affected the rats such that singly-shocked rats showed lower HR throughout the experiment and a smaller HR response to 50-kHz playback compared to controls and other shocked groups. Interestingly, all pre-shocked rats showed higher locomotor activity during 50-kHz playback and a more significant decrease in activity following 22-kHz playback; they vocalized more often, their ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) were longer and at a higher frequency than those of the control animals. These last two observations could point to hypervigilance, a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in human patients. Increased vocalization may be a valuable measure of hypervigilance used for PTSD modeling.

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