ArticleChronic stress (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)
Back to the Basics: Resting State Functional Connectivity of the Reticular Activation System in PTSD and its Dissociative Subtype.
Article in Chronic stress (Thousand Oaks, Calif.). The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- PTSD subtypes and their underlying neural biomarkers: a systematic review.Psychological medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Resting-State Neural Signatures of Moral Injury: Associations With Rumination.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2026Article
- Brain State Dynamics in Ketamine-Induced Dissociation Resemble Those in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Article
- Silent regulators of trauma: the microRNA blueprint underlying post-traumatic stress disorder biology.Environmental epigenetics · 2026Review
- The Stress Phenotyping Framework: A multidisciplinary biobehavioral approach for assessing and therapeutically targeting maladaptive stress physiology.Stress (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2024Review
- The Vestibulocerebellum and the Shattered Self: a Resting-State Functional Connectivity Study in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Its Dissociative Subtype.Cerebellum (London, England) · 2023Article
- Functional changes in neural mechanisms underlying post-traumatic stress disorder in World Trade Center responders.Translational psychiatry · 2023Article
- The brain-body disconnect: A somatic sensory basis for trauma-related disorders.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Review
- Contrasting Associations Between Heart Rate Variability and Brainstem-Limbic Connectivity in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Its Dissociative Subtype: A Pilot Study.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2022Article
- The Role of the Thalamus in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
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Abstract
backgroundBrainstem and midbrain neuronal circuits that control innate, reflexive responses and arousal are increasingly recognized as central to the neurobiological framework of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The reticular activation system represents a fundamental neuronal circuit that plays a critical role not only in generating arousal but also in coordinating innate, reflexive responding. Accordingly, the present investigation aims to characterize the resting state functional connectivity of the reticular activation system in PTSD and its dissociative subtype.
methodsWe investigated patterns of resting state functional connectivity of a central node of the reticular activation system, namely, the pedunculopontine nuclei, among individuals with PTSD (n = 77), its dissociative subtype (PTSD+DS; n = 48), and healthy controls (n = 51).
resultsParticipants with PTSD and PTSD+DS were characterized by within-group pedunculopontine nuclei resting state functional connectivity to brain regions involved in innate threat processing and arousal modulation (i.e., midbrain, amygdala, ventromedial prefrontal cortex). Critically, this pattern was most pronounced in individuals with PTSD+DS, as compared to both control and PTSD groups. As compared to participants with PTSD and controls, individuals with PTSD+DS showed enhanced pedunculopontine nuclei resting state functional connectivity to the amygdala and the parahippocampal gyrus as well as to the anterior cingulate and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. No group differences emerged between PTSD and control groups. In individuals with PTSD+DS, state derealization/depersonalization was associated with reduced resting state functional connectivity between the left pedunculopontine nuclei and the anterior nucleus of the thalamus. Altered connectivity in these regions may restrict the thalamo-cortical transmission necessary to integrate internal and external signals at a cortical level and underlie, in part, experiences of depersonalization and derealization.
conclusionsThe present findings extend the current neurobiological model of PTSD and provide emerging evidence for the need to incorporate brainstem structures, including the reticular activation system, into current conceptualizations of PTSD and its dissociative subtype.
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