Emotional remodeling with oxytocin durably rescues trauma-induced behavioral and neuro-morphological changes in rats: a promising treatment for PTSD

摘要

Timeline of the experimental design: Rats were first exposed to the trauma (inhibitory avoidance immediately followed by single prolonged stress (SPS)) or to a control (CTRL) situation. Two weeks later, they were classified as vulnerable or resilient on the basis of their anxiety scores in the EPM and of their ASR. The remodeling treatment was administered on days 29 and 31. From days 34 to 45, rats were exposed to several behavioral tests for an evaluation of PTSD-like symptoms. On day 54, rats were exposed to a combination of three trauma-associated cues and their brains were immediately processed for c-fos immunochemistry and morphological analyses. EPM: elevated plus maze; ASR: acoustic startle response; WSB: white safe box; tone/odor: exposure to the trauma-associated tone/odor. Groups: number of rats in the control (CTRL) and traumatized (SPS) groups. SPS rats were then classified as resilient (R) and vulnerable (V), before receiving an emotional remodeling under saline (SAL) or oxytocin (OXY).