Hippocampal activation during contextual fear inhibition related to resilience in the early aftermath of trauma.

backgroundImpaired contextual fear inhibition is often associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Our previous work has demonstrated that more hippocampal activation during a response inhibition task after trauma exposure was related to greater resilience and fewer future PTSD symptoms. In the current study, we sought to extend our previous findings by employing a contextual fear conditioning and extinction paradigm to further determine the role of the hippocampus in resilience and PTSD in the early aftermath of trauma.

methodsParticipants (N = 28) were recruited in the Emergency Department shortly after experiencing a traumatic event. A contextual fear inhibition task was conducted in a 3 T MRI scanner approximately two months post-trauma. Measures of resilience (CD-RISC) at time of scan and PTSD symptoms three months post-trauma were collected. The associations between hippocampal activation during fear conditioning and during the effect of context during extinction, and post-trauma resilience and PTSD symptoms at three-months were assessed.

resultsDuring fear conditioning, activation of the bilateral hippocampal region of interest (ROI) correlated positively with resilience (r = 0.48, p = 0.01). During the effect of context during extinction, greater bilateral hippocampal activation correlated with lower PTSD symptoms three months post-trauma after controlling for baseline PTSD symptoms, age and gender (r=-0.59, p=0.009).

conclusionsGreater hippocampal activation was related to post-trauma resilience and lower PTSD symptoms three months post-trauma. The current study supports and strengthens prior findings suggesting the importance of hippocampus-dependent context processing as a mechanism for resilience versus PTSD risk, which could be a potential mechanistic target for novel early interventions.