Imaging data from World Trade Center health programs offer new insight into why many responders continue to have PTSD nearly 25 years after the 2001 attacks. The study, reported in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, analyzed MRI-based gray-white contrast (GWC) from 99 responders, about half of whom had chronic PTSD. Data cited earlier from WTC programs indicate roughly 23 percent of responders developed PTSD.
GWC assesses the clarity of the boundary between cortical gray matter and white matter. Researchers observed that gray matter in people with PTSD often resembled white matter, a pattern consistent with altered balance between myelinated and unmyelinated neurons across both hemispheres. Reductions in GWC, the team noted, could reflect an abnormal concentration of myelin in some cortical regions. These structural differences correlated most strongly with re-experiencing symptoms and may affect processing speed.
The study also showed that combining GWC with other markers of intracortical health improved the ability to identify responders with PTSD. Sean Couston, listed as lead author at the Renaissance School of Medicine, and coauthor Roman Kotov discussed how modern analytic methods may reveal brain signatures of the disorder, while Benjamin Luft of the Stony Brook WTC Health and Wellness Program said the findings provide biological evidence that trauma reshapes neural integrity and could guide new approaches to diagnosis and treatment. Source: Stony Brook University.
Difficult words
- imaging — techniques for taking pictures of the body
- gray-white contrast — measure of clarity at the boundary of cortical tissues
- cortical — relating to the brain's outer gray layer
- myelinated — having a sheath of myelin around nerve fibers
- intracortical — located within the cortex of the brain
- re-experiencing — reliving traumatic memories or events
- neural integrity — overall health and stability of nerve tissue
- processing speed — how quickly the brain handles information
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Discussion questions
- How might brain markers like GWC change the way clinicians diagnose PTSD? Give reasons.
- What are possible benefits and risks of using imaging findings to guide PTSD treatment?
- Do you think biological evidence of trauma will affect public views of PTSD? Why or why not?
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