@article{ref1,
title="Probing the neurocardiac circuit in trauma and posttraumatic stress",
journal="Journal of psychiatric research",
year="2024",
author="Seligowski, Antonia V. and Harnett, Nathaniel G. and Ellis, Robyn A. and Grasser, Lana R. and Hanif, Mubeena and Wiltshire, Charis and Ely, Timothy D. and Lebois, Lauren A. M. and van Rooij, Sanne J. H. and House, Stacey L. and Beaudoin, Francesca L. and An, Xinming and Neylan, Thomas C. and Clifford, Gari D. and Linnstaedt, Sarah D. and Germine, Laura T. and Bollen, Kenneth A. and Rauch, Scott L. and Haran, John P. and Storrow, Alan B. and Lewandowski, Christopher and Musey, Paul I. Jr and Hendry, Phyllis L. and Sheikh, Sophia and Jones, Christopher W. and Punches, Brittany E. and Swor, Robert A. and Hudak, Lauren A. and Pascual, Jose L. and Seamon, Mark J. and Harris, Erica and Pearson, Claire and Peak, David A. and Merchant, Roland C. and Domeier, Robert M. and Rathlev, Niels K. and O'Neil, Brian J. and Sergot, Paulina and Sanchez, Leon D. and Bruce, Steven E. and Harte, Steven E. and Koenen, Karestan C. and Kessler, Ronald C. and McLean, Samuel A. and Ressler, Kerry J. and Stevens, Jennifer S. and Jovanovic, Tanja",
volume="176",
number="",
pages="173-181",
abstract="The neurocardiac circuit is integral to physiological regulation of threat and trauma-related responses. However, few direct investigations of brain-behavior associations with replicable physiological markers of PTSD have been conducted. The current study probed the neurocardiac circuit by examining associations among its core regions in the brain (e.g., insula, hypothalamus) and the periphery (heart rate [HR], high frequency heart rate variability [HF-HRV], and blood pressure [BP]). We sought to characterize these associations and to determine whether there were differences by PTSD status. Participants were N = 315 (64.1 % female) trauma-exposed adults enrolled from emergency departments as part of the prospective AURORA study. Participants completed a deep phenotyping session (e.g., fear conditioning, magnetic resonance imaging) two weeks after emergency department admission. Voxelwise analyses revealed several significant interactions between PTSD severity 8-weeks posttrauma and psychophysiological recordings on hypothalamic connectivity to the prefrontal cortex (PFC), insula, superior temporal sulcus, and temporoparietaloccipital junction. Among those with PTSD, diastolic BP was directly correlated with right insula-hypothalamic connectivity, whereas the reverse was found for those without PTSD. PTSD status moderated the association between systolic BP, HR, and HF-HRV and hypothalamic connectivity in the same direction. While preliminary, our findings may suggest that individuals with higher PTSD severity exhibit compensatory neural mechanisms to down-regulate autonomic imbalance. Additional study is warranted to determine how underlying mechanisms (e.g., inflammation) may disrupt the neurocardiac circuit and increase cardiometabolic disease risk in PTSD.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0022-3956",
doi="10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.06.009",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.06.009"
}