Reduced Gray-White Matter Contrast in Chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in World Trade Center Responders

IF 4.9 2区医学 Q1 NEUROSCIENCES

Biological Psychiatry-Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging Pub Date : 2026-06-01 Epub Date: 2025-11-06 DOI:10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.10.018

Juin W. Zhou , Chuan Huang , Paul Vaska , Stephanie Santiago-Michels , Alissa Barber , Melissa A. Carr , Frank D. Mann , Pei-Fen Kuan , Roberto Lucchini , Roman Kotov , Sean A.P. Clouston , Benjamin J. Luft

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Following the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC), many people experienced severe trauma and 23% of WTC responders developed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We hypothesized that gray-white matter contrast (GWC) would be different in participants with PTSD compared with demographically matched trauma-exposed control participants with no history of PTSD.

Methods

T1-weighted structural images for 99 WTC responders collected on a 3T Siemen’s magnetic resonance imaging scanner were retrieved and segmented to measure global, regional, and voxelwise GWC. Group-level analyses adjusted for the false discovery rate (FDR) (FDR = .05). Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was reported. To determine correlates of PTSD, we also measured PTSD symptom severity and several putative neuroimaging measures linked to PTSD including cortical fractal dimensions, cortical free water fraction, characteristic path length, and cerebral/cerebellar cortical thickness.

Results

WTC responders with PTSD exhibited reduced cerebral GWC globally (d = 0.47, SE = 0.20, p = 0.022), while vertexwise results showed focal differences (FDR < .05) in the frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes. Among participants with PTSD, analyses identified correlations that passed FDR correction linking GWC with overall PTSD symptom severity (ρ = −0.24) that were strongest when examining re-experiencing symptom severity (ρ = −0.28) and when examining GWC in the pars triangularis (ρ = −0.37). GWC was not associated with cortical fractal dimension, cortical free water fraction, characteristic path length, or cerebral/cerebellar cortical thickness.

Conclusions

Results support emerging research suggesting that PTSD is associated with changes to intracortical health. If replicated, changes in GWC might provide novel treatment targets and could help to support diagnosis in research studies.

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世贸中心应答者慢性创伤后应激障碍的灰白色对比降低。

背景：世贸中心（WTC）倒塌后，许多人经历了严重的创伤，23%的世贸中心响应者患上了创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）。我们假设，与人口统计学上匹配的创伤暴露对照组相比，创伤后应激障碍参与者之间的灰白色对比（GWC）会有所不同。方法：对3T Siemen磁共振成像收集的99例WTC应答者的t1加权结构图像进行检索和分割，以测量全局、区域和体素方向的GWC。组水平分析校正了错误发现率（FDR=0.05）。报告受者工作曲线下面积（AUC）。为了确定PTSD的相关因素，我们还测量了PTSD症状的严重程度和与PTSD相关的几种假定的神经影像学指标，包括皮层分形维数、皮层游离水分数、特征路径长度和大脑/小脑皮层厚度。结果：创伤后应激障碍WTC应答者整体表现出脑GWC降低（D=0.47, SE = 0.20， P=0.022），而顶点方向的结果显示局灶性脑叶差异（fdr）。结论：研究结果支持了PTSD与皮质内健康变化相关的新兴研究。如果重复，GWC的变化可能提供新的治疗靶点，并有助于支持研究中的诊断。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Biological Psychiatry-Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging Neuroscience-Biological Psychiatry

CiteScore

10.40

自引率

1.70%

发文量

247

审稿时长

30 days

期刊介绍： Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging is an official journal of the Society for Biological Psychiatry, whose purpose is to promote excellence in scientific research and education in fields that investigate the nature, causes, mechanisms, and treatments of disorders of thought, emotion, or behavior. In accord with this mission, this peer-reviewed, rapid-publication, international journal focuses on studies using the tools and constructs of cognitive neuroscience, including the full range of non-invasive neuroimaging and human extra- and intracranial physiological recording methodologies. It publishes both basic and clinical studies, including those that incorporate genetic data, pharmacological challenges, and computational modeling approaches. The journal publishes novel results of original research which represent an important new lead or significant impact on the field. Reviews and commentaries that focus on topics of current research and interest are also encouraged.