Figure 4.

Traumatic experience with reminders of stress (TERS)-susceptible mice show other behavioral correlates of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. (A) We assessed aggressive behavior in TERS-susceptible, TERS-resilient, and control mice using the resident-intruder test. To measure extreme aggression, we quantified the frequency of violent attacks that required separation to prevent physical injury before the end of the testing period. The TERS-susceptible mice (black bars) showed an increased frequency of violent attacks compared with control mice (white bars), whereas TERS-resilient mice (gray bars) did not (Pearson χ² = 8.009, df = 2) *p < .0182. (B) We assessed social behavior in TERS-susceptible, TERS-resilient, and control mice using the social interaction test. The amount of time the experimental mouse spent interacting with a stress-naïve, group-housed, novel companion mouse in a neutral environment was quantified. The TERS-susceptible mice (black bars) showed decreased social interaction time compared with control mice (white bars), whereas TERS-resilient mice (gray bars) did not differ from control mice, *p < .05.