Abstract

Trauma exposure is associated with increased inflammatory biomarkers (e.g. C-reactive protein [CRP] and cytokines), and inflammation has been shown to impact corticostriatal reward circuitry and increase anhedonia-related symptoms. We examined resting-state functional MRI in a high-trauma inner-city population of African-American women (n = 56), who reported on average five different types of trauma exposures, to investigate whether inflammation correlated with functional connectivity (FC) in corticostriatal reward circuitry in association with symptoms of anhedonia and PTSD. Plasma CRP negatively correlated with bilateral ventral striatum (VS) to ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) FC (P < 0.01). In participants where plasma was available to also measure cytokines and their soluble receptors, left (L)VS-vmPFC FC negatively correlated with an inflammatory composite score (previously shown to be increased in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid of depressed patients with high CRP) only in women with significant PTSD symptoms (n = 14; r = −0.582, P = 0.029) and those who experienced moderate–severe childhood trauma (r = −0.595, P = 0.009). Exploratory analyses indicated that LVS-vmPFC FC correlated with anhedonia-related subscales from the Beck Depression Inventory (r = −0.691, P = 0.004) and PTSD Symptom Scale (avoidance/numbness; r = −0.514, P = 0.042) in participants with an inflammatory score over the median (n = 16). Results suggest that inflammation contributes to compromised reward circuitry and symptoms of anhedonia and PTSD in trauma-exposed women.

中文翻译：

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遭受创伤的女性的炎症、奖赏回路以及快感缺乏和创伤后应激障碍的症状

 抽象的

创伤暴露与炎症生物标志物（例如 C 反应蛋白 [CRP] 和细胞因子）的增加有关，并且炎症已被证明会影响皮质纹状体奖赏回路并增加快感缺乏相关症状。我们检查了非裔美国女性（ n = 56）的高创伤市中心人群的静息态功能 MRI，这些女性平均报告了五种不同类型的创伤暴露，以调查炎症是否与功能连接（FC）相关皮质纹状体奖赏回路与快感缺乏和创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）症状相关。血浆 CRP 与双侧腹侧纹状体 (VS) 至腹内侧前额叶皮质 (vmPFC) FC 呈负相关 ( P < 0.01)。在血浆也可用于测量细胞因子及其可溶性受体的参与者中，左 (L)VS-vmPFC FC 与炎症综合评分呈负相关（之前显示在具有高 CRP 的抑郁症患者的血浆和脑脊液中增加）。患有明显 PTSD 症状的女性（ n = 14；r = -0.582， P = 0.029）和经历过中度至重度童年创伤的女性（r = -0.595， P = 0.009）。探索性分析表明，LVS-vmPFC FC 与贝克抑郁量表中的快感缺失相关分量表（r = -0.691， P = 0.004）和 PTSD 症状量表（回避/麻木；r = -0.514， P = 0.042）相关。炎症评分高于中位数 ( n = 16)。结果表明，炎症会导致遭受创伤的女性奖赏回路受损、快感缺乏和创伤后应激障碍 (PTSD) 症状。