# Revealing Susceptibility Factors for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

> **NIH VA I01** · CHARLIE NORWOOD VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · —

## Abstract

Experiencing an emotionally traumatic event, even without physical injury, results in
developing a debilitating condition, termed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in an
estimated 20-30% of people, including the over 2 million US military personnel deployed
in guerilla-type warfare (Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom) which is
characterized with high level of unpredictable and recurring exposure to traumatic events.
Thus, it is not surprising that PTSD inflicts rising costs to the Veteran’s Administration
and society, in general, due to loss of productivity and quality of life. The VA costs
associated with paying PTSD-related disability have been steadily rising since 1999,
reaching over $2 billion in treatment costs (2004-2009), plus nearly 5 billion in disability
payments. Considering that 80% continue to require treatment past 3 years after
diagnosis, it is clear that decreasing the number of veterans requiring treatment for PTSD
would decrease VA costs associated with this disorder, and, importantly, increase the
quality of life for many veterans. A previous history of PTSD or other anxiety disorders
renders some people more susceptible to developing PTSD after subsequent traumatic
events. Thus, veterans treated for PTSD, or with PTSD susceptibility, are more likely to
develop PTSD when they experience non-combat trauma, such as auto accidents, assault,
and natural disasters. Therefore, identifying susceptibility and ways to prevent it could
decrease PTSD-associated VA costs.
Understanding the susceptibility factors for developing PTSD can help reduce the
probability of occurrence after experiencing emotional trauma. The goal of this grant is
to build upon our recent discovery of susceptibility and sequelae factors of emotional
trauma. We propose to investigate whether an elevated pro-inflammatory profile is a
susceptibility factor and whether it contributes to the disrupted function of the medial
prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampus before emotional trauma (Aim 1) that we
have already identified. In Aim 2, we propose to investigate whether decreasing the pro-
inflammatory state in susceptible rats will increase their resilience, measured by their
post-trauma behavior and functional activation of the mPFC and hippocampus.
For the proposed studies, we will combine two indispensable tools: 1) RISP: our
behavioral rat model for revealing individual susceptibility to a PTSD-like phenotype
before experiencing emotional trauma (fear conditioning). This phenotype includes:
impaired fear extinction, lasting elevated startle response and generalized anxiety-like
behavior. 2) Arc/Homer 1a catFISH method: the sensitive cellular imaging method, co-
developed by the PI, which can assess both size and overlap of neuronal ensembles
engaged in plasticity after two distinct behavioral events. The findings from this research
have the potential to revolutionize the assessment of susceptibility to PTSD-like behaviors
and suggest new ways to bu...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9898314
- **Project number:** 5I01BX003890-03
- **Recipient organization:** CHARLIE NORWOOD VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Almira Vazdarjanova
- **Activity code:** I01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9898314

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9898314, Revealing Susceptibility Factors for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (5I01BX003890-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9898314. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*