title: Perfusion Deficits and Functional Connectivity Alterations in Memory-Related Regions of Patients with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
abstract: To explore the potential alterations in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and functional connectivity of recent onset post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) induced by a single prolonged trauma exposure, we recruited 20 survivors experiencing the same coal mining flood disaster as the PTSD (n = 10) and non-PTSD (n = 10) group, respectively. The pulsed arterial spin labeling (ASL) images were acquired with a 3.0T MRI scanner and the partial volume (PV) effect in the images was corrected for better CBF estimation. Alterations in CBF were analyzed using both uncorrected and PV-corrected CBF maps. By using altered CBF regions as regions-of-interest, seed-based functional connectivity analysis was then performed. While only one CBF deficit in right corpus callosum of PTSD patients was detected using uncorrected CBF, three more regions (bilateral frontal lobes and right superior frontal gyrus) were identified using PV-corrected CBF. Furthermore, the regional CBF of right superior frontal gyrus exhibited significantly negative correlation with the symptom severity (r = -0.759, p = 0.018). The resting-state functional connectivity analysis revealed increased connectivity between left frontal lobe and right parietal lobe. The results indicated the symptom-specific perfusion deficits and an aberrant connectivity in memory-related regions of PTSD patients when using PV-corrected ASL data. It also suggested that PV-corrected CBF exhibits more subtle changes that may be beneficial to perfusion and connectivity analysis.
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Baojuan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Huangsheng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pu
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Hongbing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D002681:China; D003032:Coal Mining; D064891:Disaster Victims / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*