Comparison of male and female avoidance, darting, and freezing behavior within the SPS model
Date
2022
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is more likely to develop in women compared to men after trauma exposure, however, PTSD symptoms manifest differently in males and females, with females showing stronger avoidance symptoms. A core symptom of PTSD is re-experiencing the traumatic event in the form of persistent fear memories, also known as extinction retention deficits. Rat models are a common way of exploring extinction retention deficits, however, most of these behavioral paradigms are not effective in female rats. Previous studies have found that female rats prefer to try to escape an aversive stimulus by darting, while male rats prefer to freeze in place. However, the relationship between avoidance and fear memory within PTSD is still something that is not well understood. To address this issue, I ran a series of experiments to determine the effects of SPS on fear memory and avoidance behaviors in male and female rats. The findings indicate that SPS females engaged in multiple defensive behaviors in response to threat, while SPS male rats exhibited freezing behavior in response to a feared stimulus. Overall, these findings raise the possibility that female rats exhibit multiple behavior strategies when presented with threat in comparison to males. These findings further implicate the importance of exploring sex differences in stress effects on specific behaviors to better treat both men and women.
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Keywords
Avoidance, Behavior, Footshock, PTSD, Rat, SPSS