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Sex differences in the traumatic stress response: PTSD symptoms in women recapitulated in female rats

Overview of attention for article published in Biology of Sex Differences, July 2018
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (88th percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (76th percentile)

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1 news outlet
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13 X users

Citations

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68 Dimensions

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106 Mendeley
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Title
Sex differences in the traumatic stress response: PTSD symptoms in women recapitulated in female rats
Published in
Biology of Sex Differences, July 2018
DOI 10.1186/s13293-018-0191-9
Pubmed ID
Authors

Apryl E. Pooley, Rebecca C. Benjamin, Susheela Sreedhar, Andrew L. Eagle, Alfred J. Robison, Michelle S. Mazei-Robison, S. Marc Breedlove, Cynthia L. Jordan

Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects men and women differently. Not only are women twice as likely as men to develop PTSD, they experience different symptoms and comorbidities associated with PTSD. Yet the dearth of preclinical research on females leaves a notable gap in understanding the underlying neuropathology of this sex difference. Using two standard measures of PTSD-like responses in rats, the acoustic startle response (ASR) and dexamethasone suppression test (DST), we tested the effects of traumatic stress in adult male and female rats using two rodent models of PTSD, single prolonged stress and predator exposure. We then examined the neural correlates underlying these responses with cFos and glucocorticoid receptor immunohistochemistry in brain regions implicated in the traumatic stress response. We now report that adult male and female rats across two models of PTSD show consistent sex-specific responses that recapitulate fundamental differences of PTSD in men and women. Trauma-exposed males showed the well-established hyper-responsive phenotype of enhanced ASR and exaggerated negative feedback control of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, while the same traumatic event had little effect on these same measures in females. Dramatic sex differences in how trauma affected cFos and glucocorticoid receptor expression in the brain lend further support to the idea that the trauma response of male and female rats is fundamentally different. Two standard measures, ASR and DST, might suggest that females are resilient to the effects of traumatic stress, but other measures make it clear that females are not resilient, but simply respond differently to trauma. The next important question to answer is why. We conclude that males and females show fundamentally different responses to trauma that do not simply reflect differences in resilience. The divergent effects of trauma in the brains of males and females begin to shed light on the neurobiological underpinnings of these sex differences, paving the way for improved diagnostics and therapeutics that effectively treat both men and women.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 13 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 106 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 106 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 14 13%
Student > Bachelor 14 13%
Researcher 13 12%
Student > Doctoral Student 11 10%
Student > Master 7 7%
Other 12 11%
Unknown 35 33%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Neuroscience 28 26%
Psychology 11 10%
Medicine and Dentistry 6 6%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 5 5%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 4 4%
Other 9 8%
Unknown 43 41%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 19. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 20 July 2023.
All research outputs
#1,846,110
of 24,780,938 outputs
Outputs from Biology of Sex Differences
#77
of 550 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#38,074
of 332,952 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Biology of Sex Differences
#5
of 17 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,780,938 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 92nd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 550 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 19.2. This one has done well, scoring higher than 86% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 332,952 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 88% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 17 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 76% of its contemporaries.