TY - JOUR
T1 - Corpus callosum in maltreated children with posttraumatic stress disorder
T2 - A diffusion tensor imaging study
AU - Jackowski, Andrea P.
AU - Douglas-Palumberi, Heather
AU - Jackowski, Marcel
AU - Win, Lawrence
AU - Schultz, Robert T.
AU - Staib, Lawrence W.
AU - Krystal, John H.
AU - Kaufman, Joan
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the children and families, the staff at the State Department of Children and Families, and the clinicians at Clifford Beers Clinic that facilitated the completion of this work. The authors also acknowledge Deborah Lipschitz, M.D., and Damion Grasso, M.A., for their help in the collection of the clinical data and derivation of best estimate psychiatric diagnoses. This research was funded by grants from the NIH: 1R01MH65519-01 (JK), P50 AA-12870-04 (JHK, JK); support from the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Veterans Administration, West Haven, Connecticut, and Yale University General Clinical Research Center Grant (M01RR06022).
PY - 2008/4/15
Y1 - 2008/4/15
N2 - Contrary to expectations derived from preclinical studies of the effects of stress, and imaging studies of adults with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there is no evidence of hippocampus atrophy in children with PTSD. Multiple pediatric studies have reported reductions in the corpus callosum - the primary white matter tract in the brain. Consequently, in the present study, diffusion tensor imaging was used to assess white matter integrity in the corpus callosum in 17 maltreated children with PTSD and 15 demographically matched normal controls. Children with PTSD had reduced fractional anisotropy in the medial and posterior corpus, a region which contains interhemispheric projections from brain structures involved in circuits that mediate the processing of emotional stimuli and various memory functions - core disturbances associated with a history of trauma. Further exploration of the effects of stress on the corpus callosum and white matter development appears a promising strategy to better understand the pathophysiology of PTSD in children.
AB - Contrary to expectations derived from preclinical studies of the effects of stress, and imaging studies of adults with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there is no evidence of hippocampus atrophy in children with PTSD. Multiple pediatric studies have reported reductions in the corpus callosum - the primary white matter tract in the brain. Consequently, in the present study, diffusion tensor imaging was used to assess white matter integrity in the corpus callosum in 17 maltreated children with PTSD and 15 demographically matched normal controls. Children with PTSD had reduced fractional anisotropy in the medial and posterior corpus, a region which contains interhemispheric projections from brain structures involved in circuits that mediate the processing of emotional stimuli and various memory functions - core disturbances associated with a history of trauma. Further exploration of the effects of stress on the corpus callosum and white matter development appears a promising strategy to better understand the pathophysiology of PTSD in children.
KW - Children
KW - DTI
KW - Imaging
KW - Posttraumatic stress disorder
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=40249100104&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=40249100104&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2007.08.006
DO - 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2007.08.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 18296031
AN - SCOPUS:40249100104
SN - 0925-4927
VL - 162
SP - 256
EP - 261
JO - Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging
JF - Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging
IS - 3
ER -