Masanori Sakaguchi, associate professor of the International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine (WPI-IIIS), University of Tsukuba, collaborated with the National Center for Psychiatric and Neurological Medicine and the University of Edinburgh, UK, to develop generalization due to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We have discovered that there is a time zone in which the so-called symptom is likely to occur immediately after trauma, and we have shown for the first time that trauma memory is associated with that location when we are in a known location during that time period. It is said that this is an achievement that will lead to the prevention of PTSD and the elucidation of the pathological mechanism.
The function of the brain that connects the memory of a traumatic event with a place or thing that is not directly related to trauma is called memory generalization, and the fear reaction caused by that phenomenon causes difficulties in daily life for PTSD patients. Since the treatment period of PTSD is long and the medical system is inadequate, the development of preventive treatment is emphasized, but the research is mainly after the onset of symptoms, and there are many unclear points in the care immediately after trauma.As a result of examining the conditions of generalization by applying electrical stimulation to mice, this research group revealed that generalization is likely to occur within 6 hours immediately after trauma learning.Furthermore, it was found that if the PTSD model mouse was placed in a familiar place during this time, generalization was particularly likely to occur in that place, even though it was not the place where it was learned.This study is epoch-making in that it shows the existence of an important brain mechanism for symptoms immediately after trauma.
The results of this study showed that active care for patients with PTSD immediately after trauma may lead to prevention of subsequent generalization.As future developments, the research group will continue to study actual patients, clarify the relationship between the conditions under which generalization occurs and the mechanism in the brain, and study sleep disorders and generalization that are common in PTSD patients. Is needed.
