Abstract: Post-traumatic stress disorder is a persistent psychological disorder that occurs for a period of time after an individual has been directly or indirectly exposed to a traumatic event, and this disorder can seriously affect the individual's daily living status and work situation. According to studies, about 1/3 of people with PTSD have the disorder for life, and the suicide rate is 6 times higher than that of the general population. The pathogenesis of the disease is still inconclusive, and the effect of conventional clinical drug therapy is limited and has significant side effects. At the same time, increasing attention has been paid to the importance of neuropeptide Y (NPY) for individuals to cope with stress and recover from traumatic events. In this paper, we explore the relationship between neuropeptide Y and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, Glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid neurons, locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system, and corticotropin releasing factor, which are closely related to posttraumatic stress disorder, to identify the neural circuit of neuropeptide Y. It may provide a new perspective for the prevention and treatment of PTSD and for the understanding of its developmental mechanisms.

Key words: post-traumatic stress disorder, neuropeptide Y, neural mechanism