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Changes in Electrocortiographic Indicators in Rats in Situations of Real Threats to Life in a Vital Stress Model

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Studies using a vital stress model addressed the influences of a psychologically traumatizing treatment on the rhythmic structure of the electrocorticogram (ECoG) in the rat brain on experiencing the death of a partner due to a predator. The moment of experiencing the threat to life was found to be accompanied by a significant increase in slow-wave activity in the δ range, increases in interhemisphere asymmetry in ECoG indicators in the α and δ frequency ranges in the frontal area, and decreases in asymmetry in the θ range in the frontal area and the δ rhythm in the occipital cortex. The largest changes in brain bioelectrical activity were seen in the rhythm index in the α, β, θ, and δ frequencies; asymmetry was also detected 2 h after stress, while high levels of the rhythm index in the δ range persisted to three days after the threat to life, which is evidence for the strongly aversive nature of the psychologically traumatizing exposure and the important role of the δ rhythm in reflecting the circumstances of the vital stress experienced. Changes in the rhythmic structure of ECoG indicators at the moment of the life-threatening situation may provide an objective measure of the fear experienced during vital stress and may be evidence that the processes forming post-traumatic stress disorder are triggered.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Experimental Medicine, St. Petersburg, Russia

    N. K. Apraksina, T. V. Avaliany & S. G. Tsicunov

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  1. N. K. Apraksina
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  2. T. V. Avaliany
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Correspondence to N. K. Apraksina.

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Translated from Rossiiskii Fiziologicheskii Zhurnal imeni I. M. Sechenova, Vol. 107, No. 12, pp. 1553–1567, December, 2021.

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Apraksina, N.K., Avaliany, T.V. & Tsicunov, S.G. Changes in Electrocortiographic Indicators in Rats in Situations of Real Threats to Life in a Vital Stress Model. Neurosci Behav Physi 52, 739–746 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-022-01298-0

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