Their findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may explain why smells or objects that trigger associations with early life abuse can sometimes reduce stress in adults.
"Children form a strong attachment to their caregiver - even when that caretaker is abusive," write the authors. "Paradoxically, despite the trauma experienced within this relationship, the child develops a preference for trauma-linked cues - a phenomenon known as trauma bonding."
The team found that trauma and pain experienced during infancy led to increased rates of depression-like behavior in adult rats. However, upon being presented with odor cues linked to their earlier trauma, the adult rats experienced a lowering of their depression symptoms.
Alterations in the brains of the rats caused by the odor cues were comparable to those observed in human brains when exposed to antidepressant drugs utilizing serotonin.
[For more of this story go to http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/288170.php]
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