Cited by 101Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ResearchAdvanced MRI Techniques and ApplicationsTraumatic Brain Injury Research

INSULA AND ANTERIOR CINGULATE GABA LEVELS IN POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS USING MAGNETIC RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY: Research Article: Insula GABA in PTSD

Open access
Rosso, Isabelle M., Weiner, Melissa R., Crowley, David J., Silveri, Marisa M., Rauch, Scott L., Jensen, J. Eric·2014·Depression and Anxiety

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Increased reactivity of the insular cortex and decreased activity of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are seen in functional imaging studies of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and may partly explain the persistent fear and anxiety proneness that characterize the disorder. A possible neurochemical correlate is altered function of the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). We report results from what we believe is the first study applying proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1) H-MRS) to measure brain GABA in PTSD. METHODS: Thirteen adults with DSM-IV PTSD and 13 matched healthy control subjects underwent single voxel (1) H-MRS at 4 Tesla. GABA was measured in the right anterior insula and dorsal ACC, using Mescher-Garwood Point-Resolved Echo Spectroscopy Sequence (MEGAPRESS) spectral editing. Subjects were interviewed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV and the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale, and also completed the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory. RESULTS: Insula GABA was significantly lower in PTSD subjects than in controls, and dorsal ACC GABA did not differ significantly between the groups. Insula GABA was not significantly associated with severity of PTSD symptoms. However, lower insula GABA was associated with significantly higher state and trait anxiety in the subject sample as a whole. CONCLUSIONS: PTSD is associated with reduced GABA in the right anterior insula. This preliminary evidence of the (1) H-MRS GABA metabolite as a possible biomarker of PTSD encourages replication in larger samples and examination of relations with symptom dimensions. Future studies also should examine whether insula GABA is a marker of anxiety proneness, cutting across clinical diagnostic categories.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1002/da.22155

Cites

77 of 77 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Reduced GABA concentrations have been reported within the insula of individuals with PTSD and within the mPFC, ACC, and occipital cortex of those with PD.

    “Specifically, reduced GABA concentrations have been reported within the insula of individuals with PTSD (Rosso et al, 2014) and within the mPFC, ACC, and occipital cortex of those with PD (Goddard et al, 2001;Long et al, 2013)”

    From Inflammation in Fear- and Anxiety-Based Disorders: PTSD, GAD, and Beyond (2017) · cites this paper as Rosso et al, 2014

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [30]First MB Spitzer RL Gibbon M Structured clinical interview for DSM-IV-TR axis I disorders-patient edition (SCID-I/P, 11/2002 revision)

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Rosso, I. M., Weiner, M. R., Crowley, D. J., Silveri, M. M., Rauch, S. L., & Jensen, J. E.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • McLean Hospital (US)
Corresponding author
Rosso, Isabelle M.
Venue
Depression and Anxiety
Published
2013-07-16
Volume
31
Issue
2
Pages
115-123
ISSN
1091-4269 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2155253214
Cited by
101
References
76
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 9
FWCI
10.37
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Depression and Anxiety (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH070730, R01MH096987)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Traumatic Brain Injury Research
Keywords
post-traumatic stress disorder, GABA, anterior insula, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, 1H NMR, anxiety, biomarkers, neurochemistry
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Brain, Brain Mapping, Female, gamma-Aminobutyric Acid, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review