Harnett Nathaniel G, Rowland Grace E, Webb E Kate, Li Tianyi, Joshi Soumyaa, Ressler Kerry J, Rosso Isabelle M
Division of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA USA.
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA USA.
NPP Digit Psychiatry Neurosci. 2025;3(1):9. doi: 10.1038/s44277-025-00030-3. Epub 2025 May 21.
Traumatic stress is a precursor to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Emergent research suggests visual processing regions may be relevant to PTSD development; however, no previous research to date has investigated the potential effects of trauma exposure on neural reactivity to non-affective visual stimulation. In the present study, 24 recently trauma-exposed (RTE) and 16 without recent exposure to trauma (NRTE) individuals completed functional magnetic resonance imaging during alternating blocks of flickering checkerboard presentations and attention/rest with an attentional check. RTE participants were recruited within ~2-4 weeks of trauma, and PTSD symptoms were assessed both at the time of the magnetic resonance imaging scan and 6 months following trauma exposure. RTE participants showed greater deactivation within the visual cortex compared to NRTE participants. Further, NRTE participants showed greater neural reactivity within the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex during stimulation compared to attention/rest, while no difference was observed in RTE participants. Connectivity analyses also revealed that visual cortex to paracentral gyrus connectivity was greater during stimulation compared to attention/rest, but only for the NRTE participants. Finally, neural reactivity to visual stimulation was negatively associated with PTSD symptoms within the RTE group. Our findings suggest that trauma exposure is associated with acute alterations in the neural function that underlies basic visual processing. Furthermore, trauma-induced variability in visual circuit function may be related to the development and expression of PTSD symptoms.
创伤应激是创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）发展的先兆。新出现的研究表明，视觉处理区域可能与PTSD的发展有关；然而，迄今为止，此前尚无研究调查过创伤暴露对非情感性视觉刺激的神经反应性的潜在影响。在本研究中，24名近期遭受创伤（RTE）的个体和16名近期未遭受创伤（NRTE）的个体在闪烁棋盘格呈现和注意力/休息交替的实验块中完成了功能磁共振成像，并进行了注意力检查。RTE参与者在创伤后约2至4周内被招募，在磁共振成像扫描时和创伤暴露后6个月均评估了PTSD症状。与NRTE参与者相比，RTE参与者在视觉皮层内表现出更大程度的失活。此外，与注意力/休息期间相比，NRTE参与者在刺激期间背内侧前额叶皮层内表现出更大的神经反应性，而RTE参与者中未观察到差异。连接性分析还显示，与注意力/休息期间相比，刺激期间视觉皮层与中央旁回之间的连接性更强，但仅在NRTE参与者中如此。最后，RTE组内对视觉刺激的神经反应性与PTSD症状呈负相关。我们的研究结果表明，创伤暴露与基础视觉处理所依赖的神经功能的急性改变有关。此外，创伤引起的视觉回路功能变化可能与PTSD症状的发展和表现有关。
