Zhang Youxue, Xie Bing, Chen Heng, Li Meiling, Guo Xiaonan, Chen Huafu
Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in BioMedicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu Department of Radiology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, P.R. China.
Medicine (Baltimore). 2016 Jul;95(27):e4083. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000004083.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is suggested to be a structural and functional abnormality in the insula. The insula, which consists of distinct subregions with various patterns of connectivity, displays complex and diverse functions. However, whether these insular subregions have different patterns of connectivity in PTSD remains unclear. Investigating the abnormal functional connectivity of the insular subregions is crucial to reveal its potential effect on diseases specifically PTSD. This study uses a seed-based method to investigate the altered resting-state functional connectivity of insular subregions in PTSD. We found that patients with PTSD showed reduced functional connectivity compared with healthy controls (HCs) between the left ventral anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex. The patients with PTSD also exhibited decreased functional connectivity between the right posterior insula and left inferior parietal lobe, and the postcentral gyrus relative to HCs. These results suggest the involvement of altered functional connectivity of insular subregions in the abnormal regulation of emotion and processing of somatosensory information in patients with PTSD. Such impairments in functional connectivity patterns of the insular subregions may advance our understanding of the pathophysiological basis underlying PTSD.
创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）被认为是脑岛存在结构和功能异常。脑岛由具有不同连接模式的不同亚区域组成，具有复杂多样的功能。然而，在创伤后应激障碍中，这些脑岛亚区域是否具有不同的连接模式仍不清楚。研究脑岛亚区域异常的功能连接对于揭示其对疾病尤其是创伤后应激障碍的潜在影响至关重要。本研究采用基于种子点的方法来研究创伤后应激障碍患者脑岛亚区域静息态功能连接的改变。我们发现，与健康对照（HCs）相比，创伤后应激障碍患者左腹侧前脑岛与前扣带回皮质之间的功能连接降低。创伤后应激障碍患者相对于健康对照，右侧后脑岛与左侧顶下叶以及中央后回之间的功能连接也降低。这些结果表明，脑岛亚区域功能连接的改变参与了创伤后应激障碍患者情绪的异常调节和躯体感觉信息的处理。脑岛亚区域功能连接模式的这种损害可能会增进我们对创伤后应激障碍潜在病理生理基础的理解。
