title: Different neural circuitry is involved in physiological and psychological stress-induced PTSD-like "nightmares" in rats.
abstract: Posttraumatic nightmares are a core component of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mechanistically linked to the development and maintenance of this disorder, but little is known about their mechanism. We utilized a communication box to establish an animal model of physiological stress (foot-shock [FS]) and psychological stress (PS) to mimic the direct suffering and witnessing of traumatic events. Twenty-one days after traumatic stress, some of the experimental animals presented startled awakening (i.e., were startled awake by a supposed "nightmare") with different electroencephalographic spectra features. Our neuroanatomical results showed that the secondary somatosensory cortex and primary auditory cortex may play an important role in remote traumatic memory retrieval in FS "nightmare" (FSN) rats, whereas the temporal association cortex may play an important role in PS "nightmare" (PSN) rats. The FSN and PSN groups possessed common emotion evocation circuits, including activation of the amygdala and inactivation of the infralimbic prefrontal cortex and ventral anterior cingulate cortex. The decreased activity of the granular and dysgranular insular cortex was only observed in PSN rats. The present results imply that different types of stress may cause PTSD-like "nightmares" in rodents and identified the possible neurocircuitry of memory retrieval and emotion evocation.
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Peking University, School of Basic Medical Science, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Peking University, School of Basic Medical Science, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Su-Ying
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Peking University, School of Basic Medical Science, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Xue-Qiong
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Peking University, School of Basic Medical Science, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Xiang-Yu
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Peking University, School of Basic Medical Science, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Sheng-Jie
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Peking University, School of Basic Medical Science, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Zhao-Fu
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Peking University, School of Basic Medical Science, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Peking University, School of Basic Medical Science, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Yuan-Li
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Peking University, School of Basic Medical Science, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Peking University, School of Basic Medical Science, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Ge
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Peking University, School of Basic Medical Science, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Guang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Peking University, School of Basic Medical Science, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Jin-Zhi
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Peking University, School of Basic Medical Science, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of pharmacology, Peking University, School of Basic Medical Science, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100191, China.
authors.forename: Yong-He
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004325:Dreams / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D023421:Models, Animal; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos