科研之友
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摘要
Background: Abnormal functional brain activity has been revealed in patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in recent years, while the recovery neuromechanism of PTSD has not yet been elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate the altered spontaneous brain activity in treatment naive chronic PTSD patients before and after 12 weeks' treatment with paroxetine. Methods: Twenty-one earthquake related PTSD patients and seventeen traumatized controls underwent a resting functional magnetic resonance imaging (Rs-fMRI) scan at baseline. Amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) was calculated and compared between PTSD patients and controls. Then, the PTSD group completed 12 weeks of treatment with paroxetine, and Rs-fMRI was repeated to compare with the baseline. Lastly, correlation analyses of ALFF values within altered brain areas were conducted. Results: Hyperactive function of visual cortex was observed in PTSD patients before and after treatment. After treatment, significantly increased ALFF values were observed in the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), while decreased ALFF values were found in the precuneus interestingly, a negative correlation between the mean ALFF values of OFC and those of precuneus and visual cortex was only observed in controls, but not in PTSD patients pre- or post-treatment. Limitations: A corresponding control condition was absent in this study. Conclusion: The findings showed that manipulating regional spontaneous activity of precuneus and OFC could be a potential prognostic indicator of PTSD. However, hyperactive function of visual cortex and disrupted connections between OFC, precuneus and visual cortex did not reverse after treatment, which could be a potential target for further treatment.
