title: Attention, learning, and memory in posttraumatic stress disorder.
abstract: This study compared attention and declarative memory in a sample of combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD, n = 24) previously reported to have reduced concentrations of the hippocampal neuronal marker N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), but similar hippocampal volume compared to veteran normal comparison participants (n = 23). Healthy, well-educated males with combat-related PTSD without current depression or recent alcohol/drug abuse did not perform differently on tests of attention, learning, and memory compared to normal comparison participants. Further, hippocampal volume, NAA, or NAA/Creatine ratios did not significantly correlate with any of the cognitive measures when adjustments for multiple comparisons were made. In this study, reduced hippocampal NAA did not appear to be associated with impaired declarative memory.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Service, San Francisco DVA Medical Center, San Francisco, California 94121, USA. neylan@itsa.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Thomas C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Neylan
authors.forename: Maryanne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lenoci
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rothlind
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Metzler
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schuff
authors.forename: An-Tao
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Kristin W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Franklin
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Weiner
authors.forename: Charles R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Marmar
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis; D000886:Anthropometry; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D001288:Attention; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014888:Wechsler Scales
chemical_list: D001224:Aspartic Acid; C000179:N-acetylaspartate