Mentor: Jennifer Quinn, Ph.D.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic experiences that occur in childhood that can affect brain development. Three in four high school students are reported to having experienced one or more ACEs. ACEs have detrimental effects on prefrontal-hypothalamic-amygdala circuit pathways and can increase the likelihood of developing PTSD in adulthood. ACEs can be modeled as reproducible acute early life stress (aELS) exposure to foot shocks in rodents during early development. Foot shocks in rodents induce anxiety, hyperarousal and PTSD symptoms. This study was based on Wang et al. (2024)'s study that proposed a circuit mediating safety learning/expression that involves the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT), the prelimbic cortex (PL), and the amygdala (AMY). Activation of this PVT-PL-AMY circuit drives threat responding, so safety learning/expression requires reduced activity within this circuit. This study analyzes the effects of aELS in safety learning in adulthood and cell activity in the proposed circuit.

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