Citation

Blouin AM, Sillivan SE, Joseph NF, Miller CA. Learn. Mem. 2016; 23(10): 576-586.

Affiliation

Department of Metabolism and Aging and Department of Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida 33458, USA cmiller@scripps.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press)

DOI

10.1101/lm.040485.115

PMID

27634148

Abstract

Prolonged distress and dysregulated memory processes are the core features of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and represent the debilitating, persistent nature of the illness. However, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the expression of these symptoms are challenging to study in human patients. Stress-enhanced fear learning (SEFL) paradigms, which encompass both stress and memory components in rodents, are emerging as valuable preclinical models of PTSD. Rodent models designed to study the long-term mechanisms of either stress or fear memory alone have identified a critical role for numerous epigenetic modifications to DNA and histone proteins. However, the epigenetic modifications underlying SEFL remain largely unknown. This review will provide a brief overview of the epigenetic modifications implicated in stress and fear memory independently, followed by a description of existing SEFL models and the few epigenetic mechanisms found to date to underlie SEFL. The results of the animal studies discussed here highlight neuroepigenetics as an essential area for future research in the context of PTSD through SEFL studies, because of its potential to identify novel candidates for neurotherapeutics targeting stress-induced pathogenic memories.

© 2016 Blouin et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Language: en