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Full-Text Articles in Psychology
Psychological Trauma Alters T-Lymphocyte Inflammation And Redox Through Sympathetic Mechanisms, Safwan K. Elkhatib
Psychological Trauma Alters T-Lymphocyte Inflammation And Redox Through Sympathetic Mechanisms, Safwan K. Elkhatib
Theses & Dissertations
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a devastating psychiatric disorder characterized by distinctive symptom clusters, including intrusive memories (i.e., flashbacks), avoidance of related stimuli, affective changes, and hyperarousal. Strikingly, patients with PTSD face a significantly increased risk for a number of inflammation-driven pathologies, ranging from cardiovascular to autoimmune disease. Yet, the exact etiology of this increased risk remains unknown. The immune system is known to be strongly influenced by the sympathetic nervous system, and sympathetic overactivity is a hallmark of PTSD. Lymphoid organs, such as the spleen, are richly innervated by sympathetic nerve fibers which terminate near adaptive immune …
Evaluation Of Hippocampal Allostatic Load-Associated Factors In Animal Models Of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Relevance To Human Ptsd, Dennis Parker Kelley
Evaluation Of Hippocampal Allostatic Load-Associated Factors In Animal Models Of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Relevance To Human Ptsd, Dennis Parker Kelley
LSU Doctoral Dissertations
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with elevated allostatic load, nearly double the risk for metabolic syndrome, reduced hippocampal volume, and contextual memory processing deficits. Emerging evidence suggests that these stress effects may predispose individuals to the development of PTSD, and there is a known relationship between chronic stress and metabolic dysfunction. In this work, we utilized two rat models of PTSD to explore these connections. We used an acute predator odor stressor to investigate the relationship between PTSD-like behaviors and mitochondrial dysfunction in the hippocampus of rats, and we observed that conditioned place avoidance was associated with reduced mitochondrial …
Neural Correlates And Neuroanatomy Of Juvenile And Adult Contextual Fear Memory Retention, Natalie Odynocki
Neural Correlates And Neuroanatomy Of Juvenile And Adult Contextual Fear Memory Retention, Natalie Odynocki
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
AbstractFear is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that allows an organism to discern potential harm and act accordingly by engaging in defensive behaviors. While fear is an adaptive response, dysregulation of fear by means of a traumatic event can lead to psychiatric conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Animal research using rodents in Pavlovian context fear conditioning experiments allows for the ability to study the underlying neural circuitry of threat-appropriate and aberrant fear learning and memory that may contribute to PTSD. However, despite reports that women are more than two times more likely to develop PTSD compared to men, the …