Resting State Functional Connectivity of the Thalamus in North Korean Refugees with and without Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

in posttraumatic stress disorder (ptSD), functional connectivity (fc) between the thalamus and other brain areas has yet to be comprehensively investigated. the present study explored resting state fc (rsfc) of thalamus and its associations with trauma-related features. the included subjects were north Korean refugees with ptSD (n = 23), trauma-exposed North Korean refugees without PTSD (traumaexposed control [tec] group, n = 22), and South Korean healthy controls (HCs) without traumatic experiences (Hc group, n = 40). All participants underwent psychiatric evaluation and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRi) procedures using the bilateral thalamus as seeds. in the tec group, the negative rsfc between each thalamus and its contralateral postcentral cortex was stronger relative to the ptSD and Hc groups, while positive rsfc between the left thalamus and left precentral cortex was stronger in the Hc group compared to the ptSD and tec groups. thalamo-postcentral rsfc was positively correlated with the CAPS total score in the TEC group, and with the number of traumatic experiences in the PTSD group. The present study identified the difference of thalamic rsFC alterations among traumatized refugees and Hcs. negative rsfc between the thalamus and somatosensory cortices might be compensatory changes after multiple traumatic events in refugees.

Longitudinal Changes of Sensorimotor Resting-State Functional Connectivity Differentiate between Patients with Thalamic Infarction and Pontine Infarction

“…Another probable cause was that we evaluated patients' motor function of the upper limbs (i.e., reflex activity and flexor synergy). Nevertheless, the postcentral gyrus is also involved in sensory processing, and the decreased activation in the postcentral cortex is indicative of attenuated sensory processing [28,36]. Although we did not observe a significant correlation between the infarct volume at onset and FM scores at 6 months in the TI group, the relatively strong correlation coefficient may indicate that a significant correlation between the infarct volume and FM scores may be detectable with a larger sample of the TI group.…”

The Role of the Thalamus in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

“…Based on this literature review, I believe that the retinotectal–pulvinar pathway and thalamosensory connectivity contribute to the development of PTSD, and that depletion in these regions before stress exposure may have preventative effects against worsening PTSD. In fact, a recent clinical study reported that trauma-exposed control patients without worsening PTSD exhibited depleted resting-state functional connectivity between the thalamus and the postcentral gyrus, while both healthy controls and PTSD patients did not exhibit such depletion [ 81 ]. A smaller pulvinar in similar traumatized control patients has been also reported [ 79 ].…”

“…Trauma-exposed control showed depleted connectivity between thalamus and postcentral gyrus [81] Enhanced connectivity between the centromedial amygdala and pulvinar, and depletion between the basolateral amygdala and SC [82] Amygdala−thalamus connection enhanced during recovery process [83] EMDR Contribution of mediodorsal thalamus to fear processing [64,[84][85][86] Animal EMDR model provides sustained activation between SC and mediodorsal thalamus with fear reducing effects [87] EMDR reduced gray matter volume in the left thalamus [88] Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)…”

Teasing apart trauma: neural oscillations differentiate individual cases of mild traumatic brain injury from post-traumatic stress disorder even when symptoms overlap

“…The selected brain regions align with previous studies showing abnormalities in the disorders, including the hippocampus, amygdala, and temporal gyri 57 . For the functional connectome data, the final feature list included connections linking the hippocampus, thalamus, amygdala, and temporal areas, all of which are involved in the core symptom profiles of PTSD and mTBI 35 , 58 – 61 . For example, the hippocampus is particularly susceptible to physical injury (e.g.…”