Researchers make advances in PTSD research

By Staff Writer

New research by scientists at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) may help treat people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other anxiety conditions. The findings are published in the journal Science.

According to Michael Fanselow, lead researcher and professor of psychology at UCLA, when an individual experiences a frightening event, nerve cells in the brain increase their ability to stimulate each other when the person returns to the site of the scare. While most research has focused on how this occurs, little has been conducted on the "gap junctions" that contain inhibitory neurons.

The researchers tested drugs in rats that block these gap junctions, which prevented fear memories of places from forming.

Fanselow wrote that the formation of these memories can be a major cause of anxiety disorders. He added that gap junctions could be the key to coordinating the neurons that produce fear memories.

Studies have shown that about 30 percent of veterans, 45 percent of battered women, 50 percent of sexually abused children and 35 percent of adult rape victims are likely to suffer from PTSD at some point in their lifetime, Emotional Tuning reports.