Disrupted white matter tract integrity of anterior cingulate in trauma survivors

The objective of this study was to examine the integrity of whole-brain white matter in posttraumatic stress disorder patients. Twenty posttraumatic stress disorder patients who survived the Taegu subway fire incident and 20 healthy volunteers participated in this study. Statistical parametric mapping was used to evaluate the global differences in fractional anisotropy values between the two groups. The results show that posttraumatic stress disorder patients had significantly lower fractional anisotropy values in the left anterior cingulate regions. Posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity negatively correlated to the level of decrease in anterior cingulate fractional anisotropy values. The outcome of the current study suggests that the disruption of the left anterior cingulate white matter tract integrity may play an important role in the pathophysiology of posttraumatic stress disorder.

[1]  Eric Vermetten,et al.  Neural correlates of the classic color and emotional stroop in women with abuse-related posttraumatic stress disorder , 2004, Biological Psychiatry.

[2]  H. Yamasue,et al.  Voxel-based analysis of MRI reveals anterior cingulate gray-matter volume reduction in posttraumatic stress disorder due to terrorism , 2003, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[3]  M. A. Carson,et al.  Selectively reduced regional cortical volumes in post‐traumatic stress disorder , 2003, Neuroreport.

[4]  S. Rauch,et al.  An fMRI study of anterior cingulate function in posttraumatic stress disorder , 2001, Biological Psychiatry.

[5]  Ravi S. Menon,et al.  Neural correlates of traumatic memories in posttraumatic stress disorder: a functional MRI investigation. , 2001, The American journal of psychiatry.

[6]  S. Skare,et al.  Abnormal brain white matter in schizophrenia: a diffusion tensor imaging study , 2001, Neuroreport.

[7]  G. Villarreal,et al.  Brain imaging in posttraumatic stress disorder. , 2001, Seminars in clinical neuropsychiatry.

[8]  M. Symms,et al.  Diffusion tensor imaging in patients with epilepsy and malformations of cortical development. , 2001, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[9]  M. Keshavan,et al.  N-Acetylaspartate concentration in the anterior cingulate of maltreated children and adolescents with PTSD. , 2000, The American journal of psychiatry.

[10]  M. Posner,et al.  Cognitive and emotional influences in anterior cingulate cortex , 2000, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[11]  R. F. Muzic,et al.  Higher Brain Blood Flow at Amygdala and Lower Frontal Cortex Blood Flow in PTSD Patients with Comorbid Cocaine and Alcohol Abuse Compared with Normals , 2000, Psychiatry.

[12]  S. Kosslyn,et al.  Regional cerebral blood flow during script-driven imagery in childhood sexual abuse-related PTSD: A PET investigation. , 1999, The American journal of psychiatry.

[13]  N. Alpert,et al.  A symptom provocation study of posttraumatic stress disorder using positron emission tomography and script-driven imagery. , 1996, Archives of general psychiatry.

[14]  P. Basser Inferring microstructural features and the physiological state of tissues from diffusion‐weighted images , 1995, NMR in biomedicine.

[15]  M. Hamilton A RATING SCALE FOR DEPRESSION , 1960, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[16]  M. Hamilton The assessment of anxiety states by rating. , 1959, The British journal of medical psychology.

[17]  J. Wiglesworth A Case in which an Old Amputation of the Left Upper Arm was associated with an Atrophied Right Ascending Parietal Convolution , 1886 .

[18]  Ravi S. Menon,et al.  The nature of traumatic memories: a 4-T FMRI functional connectivity analysis. , 2004, The American journal of psychiatry.

[19]  J. Lorberbaum,et al.  Potential role of the anterior cingulate cortex in PTSD: Review and hypothesis , 1999, Depression and anxiety.

[20]  D. Charney,et al.  The development of a Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale , 1995, Journal of traumatic stress.

[21]  Martin H. Teicher,et al.  Increased prevalence of electrophysiological abnormalities in children with psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. , 1993, The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences.