Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. A data-driven multivariate analysis was used to determine BNST task-based functional co-occurrence tbFC across individuals. Post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD is a heterogeneous condition that is characterized by symptoms of intrusion, avoidance, negative cognitions or mood, and hyperarousal Longo et al. The disorder involves abnormalities in multiple functional domains, including threat detection, assessment, learning and unlearning, emotion regulation, and executive function Ross et al.
Neuroanatomical investigations into the corresponding neural substrates have most consistently revealed lower gray matter volumes in the hippocampus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex vmPFC , and dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus dACG in PTSD subjects compared to healthy controls HC Ross et al.
Similarly, studies utilizing task-based functional neuroimaging involving trauma-, threat-, fear-, or negative emotion-based tasks have most frequently found hyperactivity in the amygdala and dACG and hypoactivity in the medial prefrontal cortex mPFC Ross et al. These results, in conjunction with complementary rodent studies, have led to the development of a model for PTSD in which dysfunctional mPFC-mediated regulation of the amygdala plays a central role in the production of behavioral symptoms Etkin et al.
The BNST is a complex, sexually dimorphic, subcortical nucleus located in the basal forebrain. In animal studies it has been implicated in threat processing and risk assessment LeDoux and Pine, , anxiety Adhikari, , Grupe and Nitschke, , rewarding and aversive motivational states Jennings et al.
Anatomic connectivity to dopaminergic, serotoninergic, and noradrenergic nuclei in the brainstem has also been demonstrated in rodents. Immunohistochemical studies have shown that the BNST contains a high density of neuroendocrine receptors for key stress-responsive neuropeptides including corticotropin-releasing factor CRF Elharrar et al. It is therefore uniquely situated to integrate and mediate emotion processing and the corresponding physiological expressions in a context-dependent manner Lebow and Chen, Moreover, it is hyperactive in these paradigms, respectively, in individuals with high trait anxiety and PTSD Brinkmann et al.
