Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33960558›Full record

ArticleHuman brain mapping2021

Altered basal forebrain BOLD signal variability at rest in posttraumatic stress disorder: A potential candidate vulnerability mechanism for neurodegeneration in PTSD.

Isadora Olivé, Nikos Makris, Maria Densmore, Margaret C McKinnon, Ruth A Lanius

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Human brain mapping, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 22% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. The Therapeutic Effect of High-definition 1-Hz Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation in PTSD: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025
    Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Role of Cholinergic Signaling in Alzheimer's Disease.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022
    Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.

Isadora OlivéFaculty of Brain Sciences, Division of Psychiatry, University College of London, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-3843-398X
Nikos MakrisDepartments of Psychiatry and Neurology Services, Center for Neural Systems Investigation, Center for Morphometric Analysis, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Maria DensmoreDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
Margaret C McKinnonDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Ruth A LaniusDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-3758-1393
Western University · CABoston University · USFaculty (United Kingdom) · GBHomewood Research Institute · CA

Funding

Mentoring and neuroimaging research on new targets for DBS in OCDK24MH116366 · NIMH · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI MAKRIS, NIKOLAOS · 2018 to 2022
$817k
CIHR 137150CIHR 148784CIHR 97914NIMH NIH HHS K24 MH116366
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are at increased risk for the development of various forms of dementia. Nevertheless, the neuropathological link between PTSD and neurodegeneration remains unclear. Degeneration of the human basal forebrain constitutes a pathological hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. In this seed-based resting-state (rs-)fMRI study identifying as outcome measure the temporal BOLD signal fluctuation magnitude, a seed-to-voxel analyses assessed temporal correlations between the average BOLD signal within a bilateral whole basal forebrain region-of-interest and each whole-brain voxel among individuals with PTSD (n = 65), its dissociative subtype (PTSD+DS) (n = 38) and healthy controls (n = 46). We found that compared both with the PTSD and healthy controls groups, the PTSD+DS group exhibited increased BOLD signal variability within two nuclei of the seed region, specifically in its extended amygdaloid region: the nucleus accumbens and the sublenticular extended amygdala. This finding is provocative, because it mimics staging models of neurodegenerative diseases reporting allocation of neuropathology in early disease stages circumscribed to the basal forebrain. Here, underlying candidate etiopathogenetic mechanisms are neurovascular uncoupling, decreased connectivity in local- and large-scale neural networks, or disrupted mesolimbic dopaminergic circuitry, acting indirectly upon the basal forebrain cholinergic pathways. These abnormalities may underpin reward-related deficits representing a putative link between persistent traumatic memory in PTSD and anterograde memory deficits in neurodegeneration. Observed alterations of the basal forebrain in the dissociative subtype of PTSD point towards the urgent need for further exploration of this region as a potential candidate vulnerability mechanism for neurodegeneration in PTSD.

Indexed as

ConnectomeAdultBasal ForebrainDissociative DisordersHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingStress Disorders, Post-Traumaticbasal forebraindissociative subtypeextended amygdaloid arealocal BOLD hemodynamic signal variabilityneurodegenerative illnessesposttraumatic stress disorderresting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging

Identifiers

PMID33960558
PMCPMC8249881
OpenAlexW3157292010

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.