Women and men do not present the same symptoms or the same brain characteristics in the event of alcoholism linked to post-traumatic stress disorder.
- If women and men have the same risks of developing post-traumatic stress and alcohol dependence after a traumatic event, they do not have the same symptoms, reveals a study conducted on rodents.
- This discovery could lead to differentiated treatments between women and men, and therefore more effective.
Unlike other anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has the particularity of appearing following traumatic events, which cause significant psychological distress.
According to figures from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, 7% to 8% of the US population has PTSD at some point in their lives. Causes include exposure to combat, physical abuse, accident, or other forms of trauma. However, it has been proven that people with stress and anxiety disorders are not only more likely to abuse alcohol, but also have symptoms of alcohol withdrawal and a higher risk of relapse. raised.
However, while women and men are likely to be affected by PTSD and to develop alcohol dependence, they do not, on the other hand, present the same symptoms or the same brain characteristics. And these differences are rarely taken into account in laboratory studies to develop differentiated clinical treatments.
New work by scientists at Scripps Research, and published in Molecular Psychiatry, tend to better understand these gender differences to better adapt treatments. “Having PTSD significantly increases the risk of developing alcohol-related disorders, as individuals consume alcohol to cope with stress and anxiety. Yet the underlying biology of comorbid disorders is not generally well understood, says Dean Kirson, postdoctoral researcher in neurophysiology and co-lead author of the study.We hope that our new knowledge of sex-specific changes in the brain will help propel the development of treatments. more targeted.”
gender differences
To study sex-specific differences, the researchers looked at behavior, sleep patterns, inflammatory immune responses, and levels of a neurotransmitter known as GABA (short for gamma-aminobutyric acid) in rats. males and females. The neurotransmitter GABA reduces anxiety and increases feelings of relaxation and is a common feature of alcohol addiction.
In both male and female rats, PTSD and alcohol exacerbated behaviors common in PTSD, such as startle responses, social avoidance, and defensive behavior. Rodents that were identified as “vulnerable to alcohol” before the trauma showed the strongest avoidance of places where the trauma was present.
However, scientists have noted key differences in how men and women behave after trauma and have found very different patterns of GABA signaling. For example, male rodents showed increased GABA receptor function, while female rodents showed increased GABA release.
“This may be important as there is growing awareness that drugs might have different levels of efficacy in male and female patients and understanding the biology that explains these differences could improve outcomes.s,” says Michael Steinman, co-author of the study.
Further research needed
The team also discovered that the men had a biomarker in their immune system: cytokines, which determine susceptibility to alcohol use disorders, and which the women did not. “We identified specific cytokine profiles, many of which were not previously linked to stressful behaviors, that are strongly linked to poor drinking habits.”
Now, the researchers plan to conduct further research into the mechanisms behind the biological changes they observed and to test which brain systems can be targeted to treat both PTSD and alcohol abuse. “We also plan to further investigate the role of the immune system in these disorders. These distinct biomarkers could aid in targeted therapy.”
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