Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA.
Department of Physics, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA.
Behav Brain Funct. 2022 Sep 13;18(1):9. doi: 10.1186/s12993-022-00196-2.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating disorder defined by the onset of intrusive, avoidant, negative cognitive or affective, and/or hyperarousal symptoms after witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event. Previous voxel-based morphometry studies have provided insight into structural brain alterations associated with PTSD with notable heterogeneity across these studies. Furthermore, how structural alterations may be associated with brain function, as measured by task-free and task-based functional connectivity, remains to be elucidated.
Using emergent meta-analytic techniques, we sought to first identify a consensus of structural alterations in PTSD using the anatomical likelihood estimation (ALE) approach. Next, we generated functional profiles of identified convergent structural regions utilizing resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and meta-analytic co-activation modeling (MACM) methods. Finally, we performed functional decoding to examine mental functions associated with our ALE, rsFC, and MACM brain characterizations.
We observed convergent structural alterations in a single region located in the medial prefrontal cortex. The resultant rsFC and MACM maps identified functional connectivity across a widespread, whole-brain network that included frontoparietal and limbic regions. Functional decoding revealed overlapping associations with attention, memory, and emotion processes.
Consensus-based functional connectivity was observed in regions of the default mode, salience, and central executive networks, which play a role in the tripartite model of psychopathology. Taken together, these findings have important implications for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms associated with PTSD.
创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）是一种衰弱性疾病，其特征是在目睹或经历创伤性事件后出现侵入性、回避性、负性认知或情感和/或过度警觉症状。以前的基于体素的形态测量学研究提供了与 PTSD 相关的结构脑改变的见解，但这些研究存在显著的异质性。此外，结构改变如何与大脑功能相关，如静息态和任务态功能连接所测量的，仍有待阐明。
使用新兴的元分析技术，我们首先使用解剖似然估计（ALE）方法，试图确定 PTSD 的结构改变共识。接下来，我们利用静息态功能连接（rsFC）和元分析共激活建模（MACM）方法生成识别出的趋同结构区域的功能图谱。最后，我们进行功能解码，以检查与我们的 ALE、rsFC 和 MACM 大脑特征相关的心理功能。
我们观察到位于内侧前额叶皮层的单个区域存在趋同的结构改变。由此产生的 rsFC 和 MACM 图谱确定了跨越广泛的全脑网络的功能连接，包括额顶叶和边缘区域。功能解码显示与注意力、记忆和情绪过程存在重叠关联。
在默认模式、突显和中央执行网络的区域观察到基于共识的功能连接，这些网络在精神病理学的三分模型中发挥作用。综上所述，这些发现对理解与 PTSD 相关的神经生物学机制具有重要意义。
