Neural Dysregulation in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

• DOI: 10.1097/psy.0b013e318273bf33
• Publication Date: 2012-11-01T02:22:56Z
• Authors: Rebecca K. Sripada; Anthony P. King; Robert C. Welsh; Sarah N. Garfinkel; Xin Wang; Chandra S. Sripada; Israel Liberzon
• Keywords: Ventromedial prefrontal cortex; Posterior cingulate

In Brief Objective Convergent research demonstrates disrupted attention and heightened threat sensitivity in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This might be linked to aberrations large-scale networks subserving the detection of salient stimuli (i.e., salience network [SN]) stimulus-independent, internally focused thought default mode [DMN]). Methods Resting-state brain activity was measured returning veterans with without PTSD (n = 15 each group) healthy community controls 15). Correlation coefficients were calculated between time course seed regions key SN DMN all other voxels brain. Results Compared control groups, participants showed reduced functional connectivity within (between seeds regions) including rostral anterior cingulate cortex/ventromedial prefrontal cortex (z 3.31; p .005, corrected) increased insula amygdala 3.03; .01, corrected). Participants also demonstrated cross-network connectivity. exhibited elevated 3.06; .03, corrected), hippocampus 3.10; .048, Conclusions During resting-state scanning, coupling DMN, greater SN, SN. Our findings suggest a relative dominance threat-sensitive circuitry PTSD, even task-free conditions. Disequilibrium versus may associated pathophysiology. Supplemental digital content is available article.