Levels of Perineuronal Nets in the Basolateral Amygdala Are Correlated with Sex Differences in Fear Learning
Bals, Julia. “Levels of Perineuronal Nets in the Basolateral Amygdala Are Correlated with Sex Differences in Fear Learning”, Boston College, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:107495.
Abstract
Trauma and exposure to extreme stressors greatly increases a person’s vulnerability to developing mental illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Patients with PTSD often have impaired fear and safety learning, and despite the fact that women are more than twice as likely to develop PTSD, much of the research on this disorder has relied on the use of male subjects. This paper will review potential contributors to the sex differences seen in PTSD and fear-related learning. Our group has found that female rats show greater fear discrimination abilities than their male counterparts, but show no difference in levels of safety learning. Analysis of specialized extracellular matrix structures called perineuronal nets (PNNs) revealed that females displayed a much higher density of PNNs in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) than males, but not in the prefrontal cortex (PFC).