Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-2024
Publisher
Springer
Source Publication
Translational Psychiatry
Source ISSN
2158-3188
Original Item ID
10.1038/s41398-024-03050-3
Abstract
Altered functioning of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) may play a critical role in the etiology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Chronic stressors such as racial discrimination and lifetime trauma are associated with an increased risk for PTSD, but it is unknown whether they influence the relationship between BNST functioning and PTSD. We investigated acute post-trauma BNST resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) as a predictor of future PTSD symptoms in Black trauma survivors. We also examined whether racial discrimination and lifetime trauma moderated the relationship between BNST rsFC and PTSD symptoms. Black adults (N = 95; 54.7% female; mean age = 34.04) were recruited from an emergency department after experiencing a traumatic injury (72.6% were motor vehicle accidents). Two-weeks post-injury, participants underwent a resting-state fMRI scan and completed questionnaires evaluating their PTSD symptoms as well as lifetime exposure to racial discrimination and trauma. Six-months post-injury, PTSD symptoms were reassessed. Whole brain seed-to-voxel analyses were conducted to examine BNST rsFC patterns. Greater rsFC between the BNST and the posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, left angular gyrus, and hippocampus prospectively predicted six-month PTSD symptoms after adjusting for sex, age, education, and baseline PTSD symptoms. Acute BNST rsFC was a stronger predictor of PTSD symptoms in individuals who experienced more racial discrimination and lifetime trauma. Thus, in the acute aftermath of a traumatic event, the BNST could be a key biomarker of risk for PTSD in Black Americans, particularly for individuals with a greater history of racial discrimination or previous trauma exposure.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Petranu, Kevin; Webb, E. Kate; Tomas, Carissa W.; Harb, Farah; Torres, Lucas; deRoon-Cassini, Terri A.; and Larson, Christine L., "Investigating the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis as a Predictor of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Black Americans and the Moderating Effects of Racial Discrimination" (2024). Psychology Faculty Research and Publications. 663.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/psych_fac/663
Comments
Published version. Translational Psychiatry, Vol. 14, No. 337 (2024, August). DOI. © 2024 The Authors, published by Springer Nature. Used with permission.
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material.