Probing the neurocardiac circuit in trauma and posttraumatic stress
Recommended Citation
Seligowski AV, Harnett NG, Ellis RA, Grasser LR, Hanif M, Wiltshire C, Ely TD, Lebois LAM, van Rooij SJH, House SL, Beaudoin FL, An X, Neylan TC, Clifford GD, Linnstaedt SD, Germine LT, Bollen KA, Rauch SL, Haran JP, Storrow AB, Lewandowski C, Musey PI, Jr., Hendry PL, Sheikh S, Jones CW, Punches BE, Swor RA, Hudak LA, Pascual JL, Seamon MJ, Harris E, Pearson C, Peak DA, Merchant RC, Domeier RM, Rathlev NK, O'Neil BJ, Sergot P, Sanchez LD, Bruce SE, Harte SE, Koenen KC, Kessler RC, McLean SA, Ressler KJ, Stevens JS, and Jovanovic T. Probing the neurocardiac circuit in trauma and posttraumatic stress. J Psychiatr Res 2024; 176:173-181.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-1-2024
Publication Title
Journal of psychiatric research
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.
Medical Subject Headings
Humans; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Female; Male; Adult; Heart Rate; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Blood Pressure; Hypothalamus; Middle Aged; Young Adult; Cerebral Cortex; Psychological Trauma
PubMed ID
38875773
Volume
176
First Page
173
Last Page
181
