ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2013, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (11): 1976-1982.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2013.01976

• Regular Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Translational Medicine in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

LIU Weizhi;LIU Taosheng;WANG Wei;YAN Jin   

  1. (Faculty of Psychology and Mental Health, Second Military Medicine University, Shanghai 200433, China)
  • Received:2013-03-12 Online:2013-11-15 Published:2013-11-15
  • Contact: YAN Jin

Abstract:

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized mainly by symptoms of re-experiencing, avoidance and hyperarousal as a consequence of catastrophic and traumatic events that are distinguished from ordinary stressful life events. The incidence of PTSD is one of the important public health care in this century. Translational medicine is intended to facilitate the transition of basic science results to clinical practice, and thereby sharing major aspects of clinical studies. Under the background of translational medicine, Previously studies found that in biological field hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) played important roles in the pathophysiological of PTSD, and the level of cortisol in PTSD patients was decreased; Hippocampus, amygdala, and the medial prefrontal cortex were involved in the fear response of neural circuits and played a key role in fear extinction underlying the mechanism of brain function. theoretically biological preventive approaches of PTSD are emerging. However, the treatment of PTSD still encounters with various difficulties. The translation from basic science research into practice clinical applications would become a focus in the future studies of PTSD.

Key words: post-traumatic stress disorder, translational medicine, stress