Though the relationship between traumatic stress and social behavior, which has been explored for years, is dynamic and largely estimated between dyads, little is known about the causal effects of traumatic stress exposure on the time-dependent dynamic alterations in the social behaviors on a large-group level. We thus investigated the effect of a single prolonged stress (SPS) exposure, a classical animal model that recapitulates posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-like symptoms in rodents, on the spatiotemporal, social behavior changes within a large group of cohabiting rats. One-half of thirty-two Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to the experimental group and subjected to SPS treatment administered two weeks after baseline social behavior recording; the other half served as the controls. Each group of rats (n = 16) was housed in one of two large custom-made cylinders. We used an automatic tracking system to record the behavioral indices of social behavior of the rats before SPS exposure, on the SPS exposure day, during a 7-day-long quiescent period after SPS treatment, as well as during subsequent behavioral test days. In addition to SPS-induced PTSD-like behaviors, SPS induced a time-dependent, oscillating change in active/passive social behaviors that lasted for 3 weeks. SPS treatment decreased active social behaviors (especially affiliative behaviors) but increased passive social behaviors (e.g. huddling) immediately following stress exposure. Increased active social interactions were observed during the early phase after SPS treatment; while increased passive social behaviors were observed during the late phase after SPS treatment. These dynamic changes were repeatedly observed when the rats underwent subsequent stressful behavioral tests and challenges. SPS induced a long-term, time-dependent oscillating change in indices of the social behavior. These changes may serve as an adaptive mechanism, and their manifestations critically depended on the time course following the traumatic stress exposure.

尽管已经研究了多年的创伤压力与社会行为之间的关系是动态的，并且在二元组之间进行了很大程度的估计，但是对于创伤压力暴露在很大程度上依赖于社会行为的时间依赖性动态变化的因果关系知之甚少组级别。因此，我们调查了单次长时间应激（SPS）暴露（这是一种经典的动物模型，概述了啮齿动物的创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）样症状）对一大批同居大鼠中时空，社交行为变化的影响。将三十二只Sprague-Dawley大鼠分为实验组，并在记录基线社会行为两周后进行SPS治疗；另一半充当控件。每组大鼠（n = 16）容纳在两个大型定制圆柱之一中。我们使用自动跟踪系统来记录在SPS暴露前，SPS暴露日，SPS治疗后长达7天的静止期以及随后的行为测试日中大鼠的社交行为的行为指数。除了SPS诱导的类似PTSD的行为外，SPS还会引起持续3周的主动/被动社交行为的时间依赖性振荡变化。SPS治疗会在暴露于压力后立即减少主动的社会行为（尤其是依附行为），但增加被动的社会行为（例如，拥挤）。在SPS治疗后的早期阶段观察到活跃的社会互动增加；而在SPS治疗后期，观察到被动的社交行为增加。当大鼠进行随后的压力行为测试和挑战时，反复观察到这些动态变化。SPS引起了社会行为指标的长期，随时间变化的振荡变化。这些变化可能是一种适应性机制，其表现主要取决于创伤性压力暴露后的时间进程。