PTSD and the Default Network: Developing Imaging Phenotypes

描述(由申请人提供)： 这个职业发展提案的目的是探索创伤后应激障碍(PTSD)在默认网络(DN)上的神经成像相关性，作为一种工具来培训PTSD神经成像研究的候选人。候选人将使用三种独立和互补的方法来检查创伤后应激障碍对糖尿病肾病的影响，方法是利用扩散张量成像(DTI)评估一组患有创伤后应激障碍的受试者在静息状态、功能连通性、任务诱导的失活和脑白质完整性方面的变化，并与适当的对照组进行比较。候选人是以以前在这些领域的平民创伤后应激障碍研究为指导的；鉴于这项研究的潜力，在退伍军人群体中调查这些发现是至关重要的。候选人的长期职业目标是研究糖尿病肾病作为创伤后应激障碍的潜在预后工具：预测创伤暴露后发生创伤后应激障碍的风险，并制定衡量或预测治疗反应的指标。应聘者的直接职业目标是利用这一提议学习在退伍军人临床信息神经成像领域寻求独立职业所需的研究技能。这一职业奖项的中心假设是，创伤后应激障碍对糖尿病肾病的一个节点--内侧前额叶皮质(MPFC)产生不利影响，进而导致网络层面的影响，从而导致创伤后应激障碍的临床症状。候选人将使用三个具体目标来评估这一假设；与没有PTSD的退伍军人相比，患有战斗相关PTSD的退伍军人有1)静息状态功能性糖尿病肾病连接性降低，2)任务相关糖尿病肾病失活幅度增加，以及3)连接糖尿病肾病区域的白质束完整性降低。为了实现这些目标，应聘者将在一个跨学科指导团队的专家指导下进行仔细的培训计划。这种方法是创新的，因为它探索了不同的但互补的方法来评估糖尿病肾病，而且意义重大，因为它可能导致识别可能的创伤后应激障碍的生物标记物，具有许多潜在的应用，以改善我们的退伍军人的健康。这项建议的重点影响是，它从事服务于候选人培训的研究，将一名年轻的研究员带到退伍军人管理局，从事独立资助的创伤后应激障碍神经成像研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The aim of this career development proposal is to explore neuroimaging correlates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on the Default Network (DN), as a vehicle to train the candidate for a career in PTSD neuroimaging research. The candidate will use three separate and complementary means to examine the effects of PTSD on the DN, by evaluating changes in resting state functional connectivity, task-induced deactivations, and white matter integrity utilizing diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in a group of subjects with the disorder for comparison with an appropriate control group. The candidate is guided by previous research in these areas in civilian PTSD; given the potential of this research it is critical to investigate these findingsin Veteran populations. The candidate's long-term career goal is to investigate the DN as a potential prognostic tool for PTSD: to predict those at risk for developing PTSD after trauma exposure and develop metrics to measure, or predict, treatment response. The candidate's immediate career goals are to use this proposal to learn the research skills needed to pursue an independent career in clinically informed neuroimaging in Veterans. The central hypothesis of this career award is that PTSD adversely affects the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), a node of the DN, which in turn leads to network-level effects that contribute to the clinical symptoms of PTSD. The candidate will evaluate this hypothesis using three Specific Aims; that Veterans with combat associated PTSD have 1) decreased resting state functional DN connectivity, 2) increased magnitude of task-associated DN deactivations, and 3) decreased integrity of white matter tracts connecting DN regions, compared to Veterans without PTSD. To accomplish these aims, the candidate will pursue a careful training plan under the expert tutelage of a transdisciplinary mentoring team. This approach is innovative, as it explores different yet complementary means to evaluate the DN, and is significant because it may lead to identification of possible biomarkers of PTSD with many potential applications to improve our Veterans' health. The focused impact of this proposal is that it pursues research in the service of the candidate's training, to bring a young investigator to the VA for a career in independently funded PTSD neuroimaging research.