Horn Alexander J, Cole Steve, Nazarloo Hans P, Nazarloo Parmida, Davis John M, Carrier David, Bryan Craig, Carter C Sue
Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Compr Psychoneuroendocrinol. 2024 Apr 27;19:100236. doi: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2024.100236. eCollection 2024 Aug.
Neuroendocrine analyses of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have generally focused on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis alterations. In the present analyses, we examine two additional neuroendocrine factors that have been previously implicated in biological stress responses: oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP). Here we examined basal neuropeptide status in military veterans clinically diagnosed with PTSD (n = 29) and in two non-traumatized comparison groups with previous stress exposure (n = 11 SWAT trainees and n = 21 ultramarathon runners). PTSD patients showed low levels of plasma OT and high levels of AVP. The ratio of AVP/OT robustly related to PTSD status, and emerged as a statistically plausible mediator of relationships between the number of personal traumatic experiences and subsequent PTSD symptom burden. Over the course of behavioral therapy for PTSD, measures of OT showed a significant but modest normalization. Plasma cortisol levels were not statistically different among the three groups. This study suggests that AVP/OT ratios may represent a neuroendocrine predictor of severe PTSD, as well as a potential treatment response biomarker.
创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的神经内分泌分析通常集中在下丘脑 - 垂体 - 肾上腺（HPA）轴的改变上。在本分析中，我们研究了另外两种先前与生物应激反应有关的神经内分泌因素：催产素（OT）和精氨酸加压素（AVP）。在此，我们检测了临床诊断为PTSD的退伍军人（n = 29）以及两个有过应激暴露的非创伤对照群体（n = 11名特种武器与战术部队学员和n = 21名超级马拉松运动员）的基础神经肽状态。PTSD患者血浆OT水平较低，AVP水平较高。AVP/OT比值与PTSD状态密切相关，并成为个人创伤经历数量与随后PTSD症状负担之间关系的一个统计学上合理的中介因素。在PTSD行为治疗过程中，OT测量显示出显著但适度的正常化。三组之间血浆皮质醇水平无无无无统计学差异。本研究表明，AVP/OT比值可能代表严重PTSD的神经内分泌预测指标，以及潜在的治疗反应生物标志物。
