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A core event in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder is fear conditioning, in which a stimulus or place becomes associated with an uncontrollable fear response, leading to persistent arousal, intrusive reliving, and secondary responses such as avoidance. In a clever series of animal experiments, researchers examined the ability of mifepristone, a glucocorticoid receptor antagonist, to disrupt fear conditioning.
Rats were placed alone in boxes with a lit, neutral side and an unlit side in which the animals received a footshock. They quickly learned not to enter the shock chamber (fear acquisition). At retesting 48 hours later, the rats retained fear of the shock chamber. However, when animals were retested after mifepristone infu…