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. 2017 Aug 22;7(8):e1217. doi: 10.1038/tp.2017.191

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Copyright © 2017 The Author(s)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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VNS during extinction decreases novel avoidance and social withdrawal behavior. (a) VNS reduced novel object avoidance in PTSD model rats. One week following extinction, PTSD model rats showed increased marble burying versus AFC alone rats (^##P<0.01). VNS during extinction reversed this effect PTSD model rats (*P<0.05 versus sham). There was no difference in AFC alone rats. (b) VNS increased social interaction. PTSD model rats given sham treatment showed diminished social interaction versus AFC alone rats (^####P<0.0001). Administration of VNS during extinction reversed this effect and increased social interaction (****P<0.0001 versus sham). There was no difference between VNS and sham stimulation in AFC alone rats. AFC, auditory fear conditioning; PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder; VNS, vagus nerve stimulation.