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Disruption of white matter structural integrity and connectivity in posttraumatic stress disorder: A TBSS and tractography study.

ABSTRACT: Most studies of brain white matter (WM) in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have focused on combat trauma, and often were confounded by neurological and substance dependence comorbidity. This study used tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) and probabilistic tractography to characterize WM microstructure in a mixed-sex community sample of PTSD patients exposed to diverse and multiple traumas, and in trauma-exposed normal comparison (TENC) subjects.TBSS compared diffusion measures between 20 adults with DSM-IV PTSD and 17 TENC, using a whole-brain voxel-wise approach. Probabilistic tractography using Freesurfer's TRACULA was employed to measure diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics within anatomically defined pathways. DTI metrics were compared between groups and correlated with PTSD symptom severity and trauma load.Controlling for age, sex, and motion, PTSD subjects had significantly reduced fractional anisotropy (FA) in a left frontal lobe cluster compared with TENC, at p < .05, family-wise error corrected. Tractography identified significant group differences in the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), including lower FA and higher radial diffusivity in PTSD compared with TENC. Within the PTSD group, FA values were not correlated with symptom severity or trauma load. Results remained significant after removing participants using psychotropic medication or those with comorbid major depression.PTSD patients had reduced WM integrity in left hemisphere frontal WM and temporal-occipital WM tracts, compared to trauma-exposed controls. Reduced frontal FA is consistent with compromised top-down attentional control and emotion regulation in PTSD, while reduced ILF FA may be related to sensory processing and gating abnormalities in this disorder.

SUBMITTER: Olson EA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5407943 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Disruption of white matter structural integrity and connectivity in posttraumatic stress disorder: A TBSS and tractography study.

Olson Elizabeth A EA Cui Jiaolong J Fukunaga Rena R Nickerson Lisa D LD Rauch Scott L SL Rosso Isabelle M IM

Depression and anxiety 20170315 5

<h4>Background</h4>Most studies of brain white matter (WM) in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have focused on combat trauma, and often were confounded by neurological and substance dependence comorbidity. This study used tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) and probabilistic tractography to characterize WM microstructure in a mixed-sex community sample of PTSD patients exposed to diverse and multiple traumas, and in trauma-exposed normal comparison (TENC) subjects.<h4>Methods</h4>TBSS comp ...[more]

PMID: 28294462

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Project description:Background: Neurovascular coupling is associated with white matter (WM) structural integrity, and it is regulated by specific subtypes of dopaminergic receptors. An altered activity of such receptors, highly expressed in reward-related regions, has been reported in carriers of obesity-risk alleles of the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene. Among the reward-related regions, the thalamus and the nucleus accumbens are particularly vulnerable to blood pressure dysregulation due to their peculiar anatomo-vascular characteristics, and have been consistently reported to be altered in early-stage obesity. We have thus hypothesized that a disruption in thalamus and nucleus accumbens WM microstructure, possibly on neurovascular basis, could potentially be a predisposing factor underlying the enhanced risk for obesity in the risk-allele carriers. Methods: We have tested WM integrity in 21 male participants genotyped on the FTO risk single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) rs9939609, through a deterministic tractography analysis. Only homozygous participants (9 AA, 12 TT) were included. 11 tracts were selected and categorized as following according to our hypothesis: "risk tracts", "obesity-associated tracts", and a control tract (forcpes major). We investigated whether an association existed between genotype, body mass index (BMI) and WM microstructural integrity in the "risk-tracts" (anterior thalamic radiation and accumbofrontal fasciculus) compared to other tracts. Moreover, we explored whether WM diffusivity could be related to specific personality traits in terms of punishment and reward sensitivity, as measure by the BIS/BAS questionnaire. Results: An effect of the genotype and an interaction effect of genotype and BMI were detected on the fractional anisotropy (FA) of the "risk tracts". Correlations between WM diffusivity parameters and measures of punishment and reward sensitivity were also detected in many WM tracts of both networks. Conclusions: A disruption of the structural connectivity from the nucleus accumbens and the thalamus might occur early in carriers of the FTO AA risk-allele, and possibly act as a predisposing factor to the development of obesity.

Dataset Information

Disruption of white matter structural integrity and connectivity in posttraumatic stress disorder: A TBSS and tractography study.

Publications

Disruption of white matter structural integrity and connectivity in posttraumatic stress disorder: A TBSS and tractography study.

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