Rodent of the Week: Drug prevents post-traumatic stress disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder affects almost 8 million Americans, according to surveys. It can be difficult to treat, and may require long-term psychotherapy. But researchers are on the lookout for drugs that may ease the traumatic memories or quell the symptoms, such as nightmares and anxiety.

Scientists at Northwestern University reported this week that they have identified the molecular cause of the condition and were able to treat it in mice by injecting a medication into the brain within five hours of the traumatic event.

They first immobilized the mice for one hour, which distresses them but is not painful. The mice were then traumatized by a brief electric shock from a box they were exploring. They developed a normal, fearful response to the box. They continued to fear the box for about one month, which resembles the lingering effects of trauma that people with post-traumatic stress disorder feel. However, when the mice were treated with investigational calming drugs within five hours of the immobilization and shocks, they exhibited less fearful behavior around the box.

The study showed that a part of the brain involved with the glutamatergic system becomes overly stimulated after a traumatic event because an interaction between two brain proteins continues longer than it should.

“The mice’s fear responses were completely normal,” the lead investigator of the study, Jelena Radulovic, said in a news release. “Their memories of the stressful event didn’t trigger the extreme responses anymore. This means we could have a prevention approach for humans exposed to acute, severe stressful events.”

The study appears in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

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