Neural correlates of PTSD in women with childhood sexual abuse with and without PTSD and response to paroxetine treatment: A placebo-controlled, double-blind trial
Objective: Childhood sexual abuse is the leading cause of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in women, and is a prominent cause of morbidity and loss of function for which limited treatments are available. Understanding the neurobiology of treatment response is important for developing new treatme...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Affective Disorders Reports |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666915323001543 |
| _version_ | 1797526161520066560 |
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| author | J. Douglas Bremner Rebeca Alvarado Ortego Carolina Campanella Jonathon A. Nye Lori L. Davis Negar Fani Viola Vaccarino |
| author_facet | J. Douglas Bremner Rebeca Alvarado Ortego Carolina Campanella Jonathon A. Nye Lori L. Davis Negar Fani Viola Vaccarino |
| author_sort | J. Douglas Bremner |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective: Childhood sexual abuse is the leading cause of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in women, and is a prominent cause of morbidity and loss of function for which limited treatments are available. Understanding the neurobiology of treatment response is important for developing new treatments. The purpose of this study was to assess neural correlates of personalized traumatic memories in women with childhood sexual abuse with and without PTSD, and to assess response to treatment. Methods: Women with childhood sexual abuse with (N = 28) and without (N = 17) PTSD underwent brain imaging with High-Resolution Positron Emission Tomography scanning with radiolabeled water for brain blood flow measurements during exposure to personalized traumatic scripts and memory encoding tasks. Women with PTSD were randomized to paroxetine or placebo followed by three months of double-blind treatment and repeat imaging with the same protocol. Results: Women with PTSD showed decreases in areas involved in the Default Mode Network (DMN), a network of brain areas usually active when the brain is at rest, hippocampus and visual processing areas with exposure to traumatic scripts at baseline while women without PTSD showed increased activation in superior frontal gyrus and other areas (p < 0.005). Treatment of women with PTSD with paroxetine resulted in increased anterior cingulate activation and brain areas involved in the DMN and visual processing with scripts compared to placebo (p < 0.005). Conclusion: PTSD related to childhood sexual abuse in women is associated with alterations in brain areas involved in memory and the stress response and treatment with paroxetine results in modulation of these areas. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T09:26:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0aed810654884403972a4ba9998260a2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2666-9153 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T09:26:16Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Affective Disorders Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-0aed810654884403972a4ba9998260a22023-11-22T04:48:54ZengElsevierJournal of Affective Disorders Reports2666-91532023-12-0114100615Neural correlates of PTSD in women with childhood sexual abuse with and without PTSD and response to paroxetine treatment: A placebo-controlled, double-blind trialJ. Douglas Bremner0Rebeca Alvarado Ortego1Carolina Campanella2Jonathon A. Nye3Lori L. Davis4Negar Fani5Viola Vaccarino6Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA; Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA; Atlanta VA Medical Center, Decatur, GA; Corresponding author at: Department of Psychiatry, 12 Executive Park Dr NE, Rm 333, Atlanta, GA 30329.Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GADepartment of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GADepartment of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GADepartment of Psychiatry, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL; Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center, Tuscaloosa ALDepartment of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GADepartment of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta GA; Department of Medicine (Cardiology), Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GAObjective: Childhood sexual abuse is the leading cause of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in women, and is a prominent cause of morbidity and loss of function for which limited treatments are available. Understanding the neurobiology of treatment response is important for developing new treatments. The purpose of this study was to assess neural correlates of personalized traumatic memories in women with childhood sexual abuse with and without PTSD, and to assess response to treatment. Methods: Women with childhood sexual abuse with (N = 28) and without (N = 17) PTSD underwent brain imaging with High-Resolution Positron Emission Tomography scanning with radiolabeled water for brain blood flow measurements during exposure to personalized traumatic scripts and memory encoding tasks. Women with PTSD were randomized to paroxetine or placebo followed by three months of double-blind treatment and repeat imaging with the same protocol. Results: Women with PTSD showed decreases in areas involved in the Default Mode Network (DMN), a network of brain areas usually active when the brain is at rest, hippocampus and visual processing areas with exposure to traumatic scripts at baseline while women without PTSD showed increased activation in superior frontal gyrus and other areas (p < 0.005). Treatment of women with PTSD with paroxetine resulted in increased anterior cingulate activation and brain areas involved in the DMN and visual processing with scripts compared to placebo (p < 0.005). Conclusion: PTSD related to childhood sexual abuse in women is associated with alterations in brain areas involved in memory and the stress response and treatment with paroxetine results in modulation of these areas.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666915323001543 |
| spellingShingle | J. Douglas Bremner Rebeca Alvarado Ortego Carolina Campanella Jonathon A. Nye Lori L. Davis Negar Fani Viola Vaccarino Neural correlates of PTSD in women with childhood sexual abuse with and without PTSD and response to paroxetine treatment: A placebo-controlled, double-blind trial Journal of Affective Disorders Reports |
| title | Neural correlates of PTSD in women with childhood sexual abuse with and without PTSD and response to paroxetine treatment: A placebo-controlled, double-blind trial |
| title_full | Neural correlates of PTSD in women with childhood sexual abuse with and without PTSD and response to paroxetine treatment: A placebo-controlled, double-blind trial |
| title_fullStr | Neural correlates of PTSD in women with childhood sexual abuse with and without PTSD and response to paroxetine treatment: A placebo-controlled, double-blind trial |
| title_full_unstemmed | Neural correlates of PTSD in women with childhood sexual abuse with and without PTSD and response to paroxetine treatment: A placebo-controlled, double-blind trial |
| title_short | Neural correlates of PTSD in women with childhood sexual abuse with and without PTSD and response to paroxetine treatment: A placebo-controlled, double-blind trial |
| title_sort | neural correlates of ptsd in women with childhood sexual abuse with and without ptsd and response to paroxetine treatment a placebo controlled double blind trial |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666915323001543 |
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