Exposure-based therapy changes amygdala and hippocampus resting-state functional connectivity in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder

• DOI: 10.1002/da.22816
• Publication Date: 2018-09-10T12:44:32Z
• Authors: Xi Zhu; Benjamin Suarez-J...; Amit Lazarov; Liat Helpman; Santiago Papini; Ari Lowell; Ariel Durosky; Martin A. Lindquist; John C. Markowitz; Franklin Schneier; Tor D. Wager; Yuval Neria
• Keywords: Basolateral amygdala; Orbitofrontal cortex; Exposure therapy

Recent research suggests that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with altered amygdala and hippocampal resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC). However, less has examined whether Prolonged Exposure (PE), a first line exposure-based treatment for PTSD, the potential to alter resting state neural networks.A total of 24 patients PTSD 26 matched trauma-exposed healthy controls (TEHCs) underwent magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at baseline. were scanned second time after completing 10-session PE in which narrated detailed trauma account (imaginal exposure) confronted reminders (in vivo extinguish trauma-related fear responses. TEHC again following 10-week waiting period. Seed regions interest (ROIs) included centromedial (CMA), basolateral (BLA), hippocampus.Post- versus pretreatment comparisons indicated increased rsFC BLA CMA orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), hippocampus-medial prefrontal (mPFC) among but not participants.Enhanced hippocampus cortical could underlie improved capacity inhibition re-evaluation threat, heightened memory encoding retrieval ability, respectively. These findings encourage further investigation this circuitry as therapeutic target PTSD.