Preserved cortical thickness, surface area and volume in adolescents with PTSD after childhood sexual abuse

Abstract

exposure to childhood adverse events is associated with severe consequences for general health and structural and functional changes in the brain of its survivors. in order to unravel and in the end influence the pathway linking adversity and pathology, neuroimaging research is crucial. Up till now studies in minors are scarce and differ in type of adversity or methodology. Almost all studies report lower cortical thickness, but in a broad variety of regions. In this study we investigated cortical thickness measures and clinical data in a well circumscribed group of adolescents with ptSD related to childhood sexual abuse (cSA) (n = 21) and a healthy non-traumatised control group (N = 21). The ventromedial PFC (vmPFC), ACC, insula, and middle/superior temporal gyrus were chosen as ROI's due to their respective roles in emotion and information processing. No significant effect of group was found for cortical thickness, surface area or volume in any of the ROIs. This is in line with the results of research in adult women with sexual abuse related PTSD, suggesting that this may be specific to this group, independent of age. Recent research points to differential biological and pathological consequences of different types of childhood adversity.

Differential relationships of PTSD symptom clusters with cortical thickness and grey matter volumes among women with PTSD

“…Relatedly, there were no differences in hippocampal volume between women survivors of intimate partner violence and healthy controls 38 . Most recently, it was reported that adolescents with childhood sexual abuse exhibit preserved CT in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate gyri, middle temporal gyri, and superior temporal gyri compared to trauma-free controls 40 . Collectively, there is growing evidence suggesting that the specific type of trauma exposure (e.g., combat vs. IPV) may explain whether a diagnosis of PTSD predicts alterations in CT and GMV compared to healthy, trauma-free controls.…”

“…In contrast, a small sample (n = 15) consisting primarily of women with PTSD stemming from non-combat related traumatic experiences (66% of sample consisted of women, 87% of sample experienced IPV) reported a positive relationship between avoidance symptoms and right amygdala and hippocampal volume 39 . Additionally, literature examining childhood trauma (which incorporates interpersonal trauma) and CT has yielded equivocal findings as a recent report 40 indicated that adolescents with childhood sexual abuse (85% of sample consisted of females) preserved CT (in all a priori regions of interest), while other investigations (consisting of both adolescents and adult males and females) have reported altered CT throughout the brain 41 – 43 . Overall, our understanding of potential differences in GMV and CT in adult women with PTSD resulting from IPV-exposure could benefit from investigations with larger sample sizes.…”

Looking at the bigger picture: Cortical volume, thickness and surface area characteristics in borderline personality disorder with and without posttraumatic stress disorder

“…Additionally, studies found a negative association between PTSD symptom severity and CT in the postcentral gyri and middle temporal gyri (Lindemer et al, 2013), as well as the PFC (Heyn and Herringa, 2019;Wrocklage et al, 2017). In contrast, a recent study found no difference in CT in adolescents with PTSD compared to controls, more specifically in the ventromedial PFC, ACC, insula, as well as the middle and superior temporal gyrus (Rinne-Albers et al, 2020). In the same vein, normal CT was also reported in women with a history of sexual abuse and PTSD (Landré et al, 2010).…”

Mapping structural covariance networks in children and adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder after earthquake

“…So far relevant pieces of research on structural neuroimaging analysis in children and adolescents with PTSD are still limited and no consistent conclusion has been drawn, particularly on cortical thickness. To our knowledge, there are only three reports on CTh about PTSD patients up to now, not including minors having experienced earthquakes (26)(27)(28). Ahmed et al (26) found subjects with PTSD indicated a marked reduction in the insula thickness by using Freesurfer analysis on Qdec.…”