In our society, anxiety disorders continue to be amongst the most commonly diagnosed psychopathologies, especially in the female population. In particular, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) represents a spectrum of debilitating anxiety symptoms resulting from the prior exposure to a traumatic event. Individuals with PTSD are more likely to have suffered from adverse childhood experiences, indicating childhood trauma as a likely vulnerability factor for this disorder. Fear-related psychopathologies are characterized by the impaired extinction of fearful memories and the increase (incubation) of these fear memories over time. In order to examine these behaviors, an acute early life stress (aELS) model was employed in which infant mice received 15 footshocks on postnatal day 17 (PND17) during a single session in Context A. In adulthood (PND61), mice were fear conditioned with a single footshock in novel Context B. To assess the extinction of fear memories, mice underwent a single 30-minute, shock-free test over five consecutive days (PND62-66) in Context B. In a separate experiment to assess the incubation of fear memory over time, mice underwent an 8-minute, shock-free test on PND62 and PND91 in Context B. Females exposed to 15 footshocks on PND17 showed a greater increase in fear memory on PND91 when compared to non-stressed controls. Conversely, stressed males did not show an increase in fear memory when tested at PND62 or PND91. The results of this study indicate a female vulnerability for acute early life stress. Future studies will be needed address whether sex chromosome genes and\/or gonadal hormone effects explain this female vulnerability.<\/p>\n
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