title: Spontaneous brain activity in combat related PTSD.
abstract: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent psychiatric disorder, especially in combat veterans. Existing functional neuroimaging studies have provided important insights into the neural mechanisms of PTSD using various experimental paradigms involving trauma recollection or other forms of emotion provocation. However it is not clear whether the abnormal brain activity is specific to the mental processes related to the experimental tasks or reflects general patterns across different brain states. Thus, studying intrinsic spontaneous brain activity without the influence of external tasks may provide valuable alternative perspectives to further understand the neural characteristics of PTSD. The present study evaluated the magnitudes of spontaneous brain activity of male US veterans with or without PTSD, with the two groups matched on age, gender, and ethnicity. Amplitudes of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF), a data driven analysis method, were calculated on each voxel of the resting state fMRI data to measure the magnitudes of spontaneous brain activity. Results revealed that PTSD subjects showed increased spontaneous activity in the amygdala, ventral anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and orbital frontal cortex, as well as decreased spontaneous activity in the precuneus, dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex and thalamus. Within the PTSD group, larger magnitudes of spontaneous activity in the thalamus, precuneus and dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex were associated with lower re-experiencing symptoms. Comparing our results with previous functional neuroimaging findings, increased activity of the amygdala and anterior insula and decreased activity of the thalamus are consistent patterns across emotion provocation states and the resting state.
authors: Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center for the Study of Posttraumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury, Department of Psychiatry, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA. xyan303@gmail.com
authors: Xiaodan
authors: X
authors: Yan
authors: Adam D
authors: AD
authors: Brown
authors: Mariana
authors: M
authors: Lazar
authors: Victoria L
authors: VL
authors: Cressman
authors: Clare
authors: C
authors: Henn-Haase
authors: Thomas C
authors: TC
authors: Neylan
authors: Arieh
authors: A
authors: Shalev
authors: Owen M
authors: OM
authors: Wolkowitz
authors: Steven P
authors: SP
authors: Hamilton
authors: Rachel
authors: R
authors: Yehuda
authors: Daniel K
authors: DK
authors: Sodickson
authors: Michael W
authors: MW
authors: Weiner
authors: Charles R
authors: CR
authors: Marmar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D055826:Afghan Campaign 2001-; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult