Researchers think PTSD can be prevented but kill off subjects?

There are stories I simply pass by. The newest one came out the beginning of June. Ironically, PTSD Awareness Month has managed to prove that very little has been done with what has been already learned over the last 40 years.

The study involved rats. Rats were not only mistreated to "cause PTSD" but were killed afterwards so scientist could remove amygdala tissue. They killed rats then claimed they may have found a way to prevent PTSD. Nice work on repeating something that had been done before and slammed for leaving out too many answers.

The good of the study is it does show where PTSD lives and there is scientific evidence trauma does in fact change the way the brain works. That pretty much exposes the deniers of PTSD as uninformed judgmental morons. Oh, yes ever after all these years there are some still denying PTSD is real but among the worst are some military brass in charge of the troops.

The bad part of the study is it does not answer what comes after "preventing" PTSD. Is it a matter of preventing it from hitting and then preventing other natural feelings that come with being human? Would it remove fear to the point where the troops are taking unnecessary risks in combat and back home? How long will the prevention last? Will the experiences still penetrate the mind and sleep there until a later date? What other emotions will not be felt?

Since this report did not die off the headlines of newspapers and no one seems interested in asking questions, it needed to be addressed. Whenever you read anything about a PTSD ask questions. That is the only way we will ever know if their "fix" will make it worse in the end or not.

PTSD may be prevented, researchers find
Scientists identify a gene in traumatized mice that is also linked to post-traumatic stress disorder in humans – and find that a drug can treat symptoms in mice by triggering a key brain receptor.
By Alan Zarembo
Los Angeles Times
June 5, 2013

Experts estimate that up to 20% of U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that can be stubbornly difficult to treat.

But what if PTSD could have been prevented in the first place?

Scientists have done something similar in traumatized mice. Days after a harrowing experience being restrained on wooden boards, they were given a drug that triggers a brain receptor thought to be involved in how mice — and people — respond to fear.

"We prevented PTSD-like symptoms," said Emory University neuroscientist Raul Andero Gali, lead author of a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The study raises the possibility that similar drugs could one day be given to people after combat, car accidents or other types of trauma. The prospects for developing such a treatment are very good, said Sheena Josselyn, a neuroscientist at the University of Toronto who was not involved in the research.

Andero's team set out to find genes that could help explain why some trauma victims are more vulnerable to PTSD, an anxiety disorder in which they continue to feel stressed or frightened even when they are no longer in danger.

The scientists taped mice to the wooden boards for two hours each — a technique known to cause PTSD symptoms, including learning and memory problems and anxiety.

The researchers later killed the animals, along with a control group that had not been subjected to the trauma.

That was followed by the removal of amygdala tissue, a region of the brain that plays a key role in the formation of emotional memories. Using a sophisticated screening method, the researchers combed through tens of thousands of genes and looked for differences in how the two groups of mice expressed those genes.
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