Chronic Stress Has Lasting Influences on Fear Extinction Cued Discrimination Early in Extinction That is Mediated by the Infralimbic Cortex

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is characterized by intrusive memories from a traumatic event. Current therapies rarely lead to complete remission. PTSD can be modeled in rodents using chronic stress (creating vulnerable phenotype) combined with fear conditioning (modeling a traumatic experience), resulting in attenuated extinction learning and impaired recall of extinction.