Acute Posttraumatic Symptoms Are Associated With Multimodal Neuroimaging Structural Covariance Patterns: A Possible Role for the Neural Substrates of Visual Processing in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

• Authors: Nathaniel G Harnett, Harvard Medical School; Jennifer Stevens, Emory University; Negar Fani, Emory University; Sanne van Rooij, Emory University; Timothy D Ely, Emory University; Vasiliki Michopoulos, Emory University; Lauren Hudak, Emory University; Alex O Rothbaum, Case Western Reserve University; Rebecca Hinrichs, Emory University; Sterling J Winters, Emory University; Tanja Jovanovic, Emory University; Barbara Rothbaum, Emory University; Lisa D Nickerson, Harvard Medical School; Kerry Ressler, Emory University
• Journal Title: BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY-COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING
• Volume: Volume 7, Number 2
• Publisher: ELSEVIER | 2022-02-01, Pages 129-138
• Type of Work: Article | Post-print: After Peer Review
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2020.07.019
• Subjects: Health Sciences, Mental Health
• Keywords: Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Neurosciences; Neurosciences & Neurology; SMALLER HIPPOCAMPAL VOLUME; WHITE-MATTER INTEGRITY; FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY; CORTICAL THICKNESS; ATTENTION BIAS; PTSD; TRAUMA; STATE; VULNERABILITY; VETERANS

Abstract

Background: Although aspects of brain morphology have been associated with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), limited work has investigated multimodal patterns in brain morphology that are linked to acute posttraumatic stress severity. In the present study, we utilized multimodal magnetic resonance imaging to investigate if structural covariance networks (SCNs) assessed acutely following trauma were linked to acute posttraumatic stress severity. Methods: Structural magnetic resonance imaging data were collected around 1 month after civilian trauma exposure in 78 participants. Multimodal magnetic resonance imaging data fusion was completed to identify combinations of SCNs, termed structural covariance profiles (SCPs), related to acute posttraumatic stress severity collected at 1 month. Analyses assessed the relationship between participant SCP loadings, acute posttraumatic stress severity, the change in posttraumatic stress severity from 1 to 12 months, and depressive symptoms. Results: We identified an SCP that reflected greater gray matter properties of the anterior temporal lobe, fusiform face area, and visual cortex (i.e., the ventral visual stream) that varied curvilinearly with acute posttraumatic stress severity and the change in PTSD symptom severity from 1 to 12 months. The SCP was not associated with depressive symptoms. Conclusions: We identified combinations of multimodal SCNs that are related to variability in PTSD symptoms in the early aftermath of trauma. The identified SCNs may reflect patterns of neuroanatomical organization that provide unique insight into acute posttraumatic stress. Furthermore, these multimodal SCNs may be potential candidates for neural markers of susceptibility to both acute posttraumatic stress and the future development of PTSD.