Neurocognitive, emotional and neuroendocrine correlates of exposure to sexual assault in women

Abstract

Dysfunctions in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the cerebellum may represent early functional brain modifications that alter higher cognitive processes when emotional material is involved.

Smaller hippocampal volume following sexual assault in women is associated with post‐traumatic stress disorder

“…In addition to lower morning cortisol in victims three weeks following exposure to sexual assault , this study indicates that victims who developed PTSD at the six‐month follow‐up, showed higher midday cortisol concentrations relative to the victims who did not develop PTSD. These findings are at odds with previous meta‐analytical results indicating lower afternoon concentrations relative to morning cortisol measures in chronic PTSD female victims of sexual assault .…”

“…For the first time, this study investigated the longitudinal neuroendocrine (diurnal cortisol) and neuroanatomical (hippocampal and amygdala volumes) changes occurring in females three weeks (T1) following exposure to sexual assault, and the associations of these changes with the development of PTSD at a six months (T2) follow‐up assessment. In addition to lower morning (8:00am) cortisol , females exposed to sexual assault at T1 had smaller hippocampal volumes, but not amygdala, and similar total diurnal cortisol changes (AUCg) relative to females who have never been exposed to sexual assault. At T2, victims who developed PTSD (PTSD+) had higher cortisol concentrations at 24:00 h relative to those who did not (PTSD−), but groups (PTSD+, PTSD− and controls) showed similar total diurnal cortisol changes (AUCg), and hippocampal and amygdala volumes.…”

“…However, lower cortisol concentrations in the afternoon (comparatively to samples measured between 8:00 h and 9:00 h) are associated with chronic PTSD only in females exposed to sexual abuse . Consistently, lower morning and higher afternoon cortisol concentrations were evident in a sample of soldiers 5 days following trauma exposure , and in a sample of females within a month after exposure to sexual assault . Cortisol is sensitive to other factors than trauma exposure such as age, sex, type of trauma, comorbidities, time of collection, or time since trauma exposure , indicating that to better capture the early neuroendocrine changes associated with the development of PTSD, longitudinal investigations of age‐matched sample of survivors of a similar trauma and from the same sex are needed.…”

“…Salivary cortisol samples were collected using Salivettes (Sarstedt AG & Co, Nümbrecht, Germany) four times (8:00 h, 24:00 h, 16:00 h and 20:00 h) on the day of scanning at both T1 and T2 (see ). Some analyzes were not performed on all participants for various technical reasons (no collection by the participant, insufficient quantity of saliva for analyses).…”

“…To better understand the relationship between neuroendocrine and neuroanatomical changes involved in the development of PTSD, this study investigated the longitudinal neuroendocrine (diurnal cortisol concentrations) and neuroanatomical (hippocampal and amygdala volumes) changes occurring in females within a month (T1) and six months (T2) following their exposure to sexual assault, relative to a sample of females never exposed to sexual assault. We hypothesized that, in addition to our previous finding of lower morning cortisol concentration at T1 , trauma‐exposed females who will develop PTSD (PTSD+) or not (PTSD−) at T2, will present with lower afternoon cortisol concentrations at T2 relative to the control group. In addition, we expected that smaller hippocampal volumes at T1 would be evident in the PTSD+ group at T2, relative to both the PTSD− and control groups.…”