Table 2.
Resting state functional neuroimaging studies. PTSD: Post-traumatic stress disorder, TE: Trauma-exposed, HC: Healthy controls, M/F: Male/Female, SD: standard deviation, fMRI: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, ND: Not described, SPECT: Single-photon emission computed tomography, FDG-PET: fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography, ALFF: amplitude of low frequency fluctuation,MDD: Major depressive, *: PTSD + Dissociation, FC: Functional connectivity, BNST: Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, , PAG: Periaqueductal Gray, ICD: Intrinsic connectivity distribution, dlPFC: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, mPFC: medial prefrontal cortex, FFG: Fusiform Gyrus, dACC: dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, SN: Salience network (consisting of bilateral posterior insula, supramarginal gyrus, precuneus and cerebellar lobules V,VI).
| Study | Method | PTSD(M/F) | TE (M/F) | HC (M/F) |
Age Mean(SD) |
Trauma type | Trauma window Months(SD) | Substance Use Dis. | Psych. Com. | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonne et al. (2003) | SPECT | 11(4/7) | 17(8/9) | 11(5/6) | 34(9)/35(8)/ 33(12 |
Motor vehicle accident | 6.9(0.38) | No | No | PTSD > HC and PTSD > TE cerebral perfusion in bilateral cerebellum. Correlation with depressive symptoms. |
| Molina et al. (2010) | FDG-PET | 16(16/ 0) |
6(6/0) | – | 39.6(0.19)/39.5(0.34) | Combat | 240 | ND | No | PTSD > TE activity in the left cerebellum |
| Yin et al. (2011) | fMRI | 54(ND) | 72(ND) | – | <60 | Earthquake | 9–15 | ND | No | PTSD < TE ALFF in posterior cerebellum |
| Bing et al. (2013) | fMRI | 20(13/ 7) |
– | 20(14/ 6) |
32.92(8.48)/31.53(7.43) | Motor vehicle accident | 7.2(1.6) | ND | 3/20 MDD | PTSD > HC ALFF in the right cerebellum |
| Nicholson et al. (2015) | fMRI | 36(10/26) | 13(2/ 11)* |
40(11/ 29) |
37(12.9)/37(12.7)/32.3(11.4) | ND | ND | Not 6 months prior | 2/36 and 4/13 depression/anxiety disorders | PTSD + DS > PTSD-DS FC between the amygdala and the left culmen of the cerebellum |
| Insana et al. (2016) | FDG-PET | 30/41 | 41(32/ 9)1 |
– | 29.31(6.09) | Combat and childhood maltreatment | ND | Not 3 months prior | No current | Childhood maltreatment correlated with activation in bilateral vermis and negative associated with the left central lobule and right posterior cerebellum |
| Zhang et al., 2016a, Zhang et al., 2016b | fMRI | 17(5/ 12) |
20(9/ 11) |
20(8/ 12) |
44.41(8.44)/40.35(9.43)/42.52( 7.89) |
Earthquake | 24 | ND | ND | Altered ALFF in bilateral cerebellum in TE vs HC |
| Rabellino et al. (2018a) | fMRI | 70(25/ 45) |
41(8/ 33)* |
50(16/ 34) |
37.83(11.7)/41.12(13.34)/35.2(11.6) | ND | ND | Not 6 months prior | Several | Pos. Correlation between dissociation and FC in the BNST and the left lobules VI-VII |
| Thome et al. (2017) | fMRI | 57(39/ 18) |
– | 41(15/ 26) |
33.98(11.57)/37.11(12.80) | ND | ND | In remission | Several | PTSD > HC FC between PAG and the right cerebellar vermis |
| Holmes et al. (2018) | fMRI | 21(10/ 11) |
– | 18(12/ 6) |
36(8)/35(13) | Several | 213.6(120) | No | 16/21 MDD | PTSD < HC ICD in the right and left dlPFC, left mPFC, and the right cerebellar Crus. Negative correlation with PTSD symptoms. PTSD > HC connectivity between the cerebellum and the right supramarginal gyrus. |
| Rabellino et al., 2018a, Rabellino et al., 2018b | fMRI | 65(25/ 40) |
37(8/ 29)* |
47(15/ 32) |
37.58(11.75)/40.38(13.69)/33.81(11.8) | ND | ND | Not 6 months prior | Several | PTSD > HC between left IV-V + right FFG + hippocampus and between right IV-V+ right posterior insula and planum polare. PTSD < HC FC between left Crus I + frontal gyrus. |
| Chen et al. (2019) | fMRI | 27(7/ 20) |
33(7/ 26) |
30(7/ 23) |
48.4(10.3)/48.5(7.5)/49.9(6.1) | Typhoon | 5–7 | No | Depression and anxiety | PTSD + TE < HC FC between dACC and left cerebellum |
| Belleau et al. (2020) | fMRI | – | 54(19/ 35) |
– | 33.22(11.55) | Several | 2 weeks and 6 months post-trauma | Yes | Several | Negative FC between right amygdala and right cerebellum predicted later development of PTSD symptoms |
| Nicholson et al. (2020) | fMRI | 81(35/ 46) |
49(11/ 38)* |
56(20/ 36) |
39(11.79)/40(13.52)/34(11.98) | ND | ND | In remission | Several | PTSD > HC FC between posterior SN and posterior insula and cuneus/precuneus PTSD < HC FC between SN and right dlPFC and right supramarginal gyrus in PTSD |
| Park et al. (2020) | fMRI | – | 31 (31/0) | 26 (26/0) |
49.8(4.7)/65.3(7.8) | Firefighters | ND | No | No | TE > HC FC between left superior parietal gyrus and right lobules IV, V, VIII, left parahippocampal gyrus, and FFG and between left inferior temporal gyrus and the right lobules VI and IX. (all uncorrected) |
| Suo et al. (2020) | fMRI | – | – | 122(36/86) | – | Earthquake | 10–15 months | No | No | FC between occipital lobe -cerebellum and limbic cortical structures– cerebellum predicted PTSD symptoms |