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CC BY 4.0 · Glob Med Genet 2022; 09(01): 007-013
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1736633
Review Article

Epigenetic Approach to PTSD: In the Aspects of Rat Models

Asli Aykac
1   Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, Near East University, Nicosia, Cyprus
,
Rasime Kalkan
2   Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Near East University, Nicosia, Cyprus
3   Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Near East University, Nicosia, Cyprus
› Author Affiliations Funding None.
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Abstract

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a stress-related mental disorder and develops after exposure to life-threatening traumatic experiences. The risk factors of PTSD included genetic factors; alterations in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis; neurotrophic, serotonergic, dopaminergic, and catecholaminergic systems; and a variety of environmental factors, such as war, accident, natural disaster, pandemic, physical, or sexual abuse, that cause stress or trauma in individuals. To be able to understand the molecular background of PTSD, rodent animal models are widely used by researchers. When looking for a solution for PTSD, it is important to consider preexisting genetic risk factors and physiological, molecular, and biochemical processes caused by trauma that may cause susceptibility to this disorder. In studies, it is reported that epigenetic mechanisms play important roles in the biological response affected by environmental factors, as well as the task of programming cell identity. In this article, we provided an overview of the role of epigenetic modifications in understanding the biology of PTSD. We also summarized the data from animal studies and their importance during the investigation of PTSD. This study shed light on the epigenetic background of stress and PTSD.

Keywords

PTSD - epigenetics - methylation - rat studies


Publication History

Received: 11 August 2021

Accepted: 18 September 2021

Article published online:
11 November 2021

© 2021. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

 

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