Modeling psychological trauma in rats

Abstract

Stress is an unavoidable part of our lives. While some types of stress are easily managed by most, extremely stressful situations such as those resulting from experiencing or witnessing of traumatic events can have a long lasting negative impact on our health, often causing serious psychiatric illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Therapeutic interventions to treat such complex ailments are rather limited and are associated with serious side effects. Better interventions are clearly needed. Understanding the biological impact of stressful life events is central to this need. Animal models offer useful insights. Here we describe a method, which simulates direct as well as vicariously acquired form of psychological stress in male Sprague-Dawley rats. The role of social support considered as a critical component of stress-coping mechanisms were also modeled. Extensive details are provided to promote reproducibility.