Title : Neural circuit and brain structure change in women with PTSD
Abstract:
PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is a neurodegenerative disease that is caused by tragic, unfortunate events such as violation, physical/mental abuse, and combat exposure. PTSD is linked with elevated levels of cortisol and noradrenaline (hormones) responses to stressors. The symptoms include but are not limited to, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, sleep deprivation, and memory loss. The traumatization causes the brain to remain in a state of extreme vigilance. Hence it represses verbal declarative memory concluded from neuropsychological testing measures and self-control which results in the person having severe sensitivity.
Females experience twofold PTSD than males. The US National Center for PTSD has announced that almost around 8% of women have PTSD compared to 4% of men. Generally, as a consequence of PTSD’s effects on the female brain, the brain regions which function in the fight or flight response including the hippocampus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex have been structurally and functionally altered greater than man.
The hippocampus becomes smaller and less likely to be active. Amygdala does not distinguish the difference between past and present trauma, which causes the production of neurochemical hormones such as cortisol. In comparison, adult women with depression and a background of early childhood abuse had a higher cortisol response to a challenging and mental challenge. The prefrontal cortex becomes less active. Women who had PTSD and had experienced violence had lower levels of blood flow in the orbitofrontal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, and fusiform gyrus than women who had not experienced abuse and had PTSD.
Other than that, increased activation in the posterior cingulate left middle frontal gyrus, malfunction in hippocampal activation, left inferior parietal cortex, motor cortex, and lastly visual association. The long-term effects in neurochemical systems observed by PET cause changes in neural circuit responsiveness in women.
Audience Take Away
- The audience will now have the knowledge of how PTSD affects someone who has been abused in their earlier life. The reason that the abstract was predominantly on women is that they face and experience severe and more violated life than a man does, hence the explanation on neural circuits was upon women. Now with the knowledge of the affected parts of the neural circuit system, they will be able to syncretize this information and can work on a better treatment with less limiting results because even though there are treatments on the market, due to the gaps in information on PTSD the present treatments are only effective for a few patients or on few regions in the brain
- There are still some gaps in explaining how PTSD affects the brain and how the effects could be reversed. The audience will be able to look through another point of view which might add a bonus to their job, especially in pharmaceutical companies
- In terms of teaching, it will open more sources and ideas to teach to the new generation. Also in regard to research, a type of treatment could be developed for PTSD patients based on their altered/dysfunctional circuit
- Since how the brain circuit is affected and altered will be explained meticulously, it might open doors to a practical solution/s that can be effective on more patients and less limiting on the basis of utilization. If there are projects that are already being worked on how to reverse the dysfunctionality of the brain circuit due to PTSD then with the information explained it could simplify and improve the accuracy of the designer's job. In this presentation, it will be explained the reasons why this circuit was malfunctioning and how some of the brain regions' structures have changed over time due to the long-term effect of hormones
