Abstract
The abnormal brain activity is a pivotal condition for the occurrence of posttraumatic stress disorder. However, the dynamic time features of intrinsic brain activities still remain unclearly in PTSD patients. Our study aims to perform the resting-state lag analysis (RS-LA) method to explore potential propagated patterns of intrinsic brain activities in PTSD patients. We recruited 27 drug-naive patients with PTSD, 33 trauma-exposed controls (TEC), and 30 demographically matched healthy controls (HC) in the final data statistics. Both RS-LA and conventional voxel-wise functional connectivity strength (FCS) methods were employed on the same dataset. Then, Spearman correlation analysis was conducted on time latency values of those abnormal brain regions with the clinical assessments. Compared with HC group, the time latency patterns of PTSD patients significantly shifted toward later in posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus, middle prefrontal cortex, right angular, and left pre- and post-central cortex. The TEC group tended to have similar time latency in right angular. Additionally, significant time latency in right STG was found in PTSD group relative to TEC group. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that the time latency value of mPFC negatively correlated to the PTSD checklist-civilian version scores (PCL_C) in PTSD group (r = −0.578, P < 0.05). Furthermore, group differences map of FCS exhibited parts of overlapping areas with that of RS-LA, however, less specificity in detecting PTSD patients. In conclusion, apparent alterations of time latency were observed in DMN and primary sensorimotor areas of PTSD patients. These findings provide us with new evidence to explain the neural pathophysiology contributing to PTSD.
Highlights
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders after suffering from severe traumatic events
By using resting-state lag analysis (RS-LA), we identified the lagging structures of intrinsic brain activities in PTSD patients
We demonstrated that the time latency patterns related to the occurrence of PTSD
Summary
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders after suffering from severe traumatic events. The major recurrent symptoms including intrusion, avoidance, and hyper-vigilance may seriously impair the ability to get involved in social activities [1]. It has been commonly recognized that the disorganized functional neural system played a crucial role in the impairments of fear learning, threat detection, executive function, and emotional. The human brain is a highly ordered dynamic system with ongoing neural activity and rapidly altered neural interaction. Each brain regions or networks serving different functions tend to be active in turn rather than at the same time [3]. The effects of temporal propagation patterns in PTSD are rarely discussed [4].
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