Reduced gray-white contrast in chronic post-traumatic stress disorder in World Trade Center responders.
Article
Zhou, Juin W, Huang, Chuan, Vaska, Paul et al. (2025). Reduced gray-white contrast in chronic post-traumatic stress disorder in World Trade Center responders.
. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY-COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING, S2451-9022(25)00333-7. 10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.10.018
Zhou, Juin W, Huang, Chuan, Vaska, Paul et al. (2025). Reduced gray-white contrast in chronic post-traumatic stress disorder in World Trade Center responders.
. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY-COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING, S2451-9022(25)00333-7. 10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.10.018
Following the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC), many people experienced severe trauma and 23% of WTC responders developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We hypothesized gray-white contrast (GWC) would be different between participants with PTSD when compared to demographically matched trauma-exposed controls with no history of PTSD.
Methods
T1-weighted structural images for 99 WTC responders collected on a 3T Siemen's magnetic resonance imaging were retrieved and segmented to measure global, regional, and voxel-wise GWC. Group-level analyses adjusted for the false discovery rate (FDR=0.05). Area under the receiver-operating curve was reported (AUC). To determine correlates of PTSD, we also measured PTSD symptom severity and several putative neuroimaging measures linked to PTSD including cortical fractal dimensions, cortical free water fraction, characteristic path length and cerebral/cerebellar cortical thickness.
Results
WTC responders with PTSD exhibited reduced cerebral GWC globally (D=0.47, SE = 0.20, P=0.022), while vertex-wise results showed focal differences lobes (FDR<0.05) in the frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes. Among participants with PTSD, analyses identified correlations that passed FDR correction linking GWC with overall PTSD symptom severity (ρ=-0.24) that were strongest when examining re-experiencing symptom severity (ρ=-0.28) and when examining GWC in the Pars Triangularis (ρ=-0.37). GWC was not associated with cortical fractal dimensions, cortical free water fraction, characteristic path length or cerebral/cerebellar cortical thickness.
Conclusions
Results support emerging research suggesting that PTSD is associated with changes to intracortical health. If replicated, changes in GWC might provide novel treatment targets and could help to support diagnosis in research studies.
