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Cited by 55Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ResearchChild Abuse and TraumaTraumatic Brain Injury Research

Decreased Premotor Cortex Volume in Victims of Urban Violence with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

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Rocha-Rego, Vanessa, Pereira, Mirtes G., Oliveira, Leticia, Mendlowicz, Mauro V., Fiszman, Adriana, Marques-Portella, Carla, Berger, William, Chu, Carlton +5 more·2012·PLoS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0042560PMC PMC3432060
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Studies addressing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have demonstrated that PTSD patients exhibit structural abnormalities in brain regions that relate to stress regulation and fear responses, such as the hippocampus, amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Premotor cortical areas are involved in preparing to respond to a threatening situation and in representing the peripersonal space. Urban violence is an important and pervasive cause of human suffering, especially in large urban centers in the developing world. Violent events, such as armed robbery, are very frequent in certain cities, and these episodes increase the risk of PTSD. Assaultive trauma is characterized by forceful invasion of the peripersonal space; therefore, could this traumatic event be associated with structural alteration of premotor areas in PTSD? METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Structural magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired from a sample of individuals that had been exposed to urban violence. This sample consisted of 16 PTSD patients and 16 age- and gender-matched controls. Psychometric questionnaires differentiated PTSD patients from trauma-exposed controls with regard to PTSD symptoms, affective, and resilience predispositions. Voxel-based morphometric analysis revealed that, compared with controls, the PTSD patients presented significant reductions in gray matter volume in the ventral premotor cortex and in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex. CONCLUSIONS: Volume reduction in the premotor cortex that is observed in victims of urban violence with PTSD may be associated with a disruption in the dynamical modulation of the safe space around the body. The finding that PTSD patients presented a smaller volume of pregenual anterior cingulate cortex is consistent with the results of other PTSD neuroimaging studies that investigated different types of traumatic events.

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  • In a small study of victims of urban violence, significant reductions in gray matter volume were found in the ventral premotor cortex and pregenual ACC as a function of civilian violence.

    “In a small study of victims of urban violence, Rocha-Rego et al. [149] found significant reductions in gray matter volume in the ventral premotor cortex and in the pregenual ACC as a function of civilian violence.”

    From Prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and threat processing: implications for PTSD (2022) · cites this paper as [149]

    The Abstract (Methodology/Principal Findings) reports a small study of 16 PTSD patients and 16 trauma-exposed controls, with significant gray-matter reductions in the ventral premotor cortex and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex in the PTSD group. The Results confirm the comparison was between two groups exposed to urban violence, so the study does not establish that the reductions occurred as a function of civilian violence itself. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Authors
Rocha-Rego, V., Pereira, M. G., Oliveira, L., Mendlowicz, M. V., Fiszman, A., Marques-Portella, C., Berger, W., Chu, C., Joffily, M., Moll, J., Mari, J. J., Figueira, I., & Volchan, E.
Affiliations
  • Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (BR)
  • Universidade Federal Fluminense (BR)
  • University College London (GB)
  • D’Or Institute for Research and Education (BR)
Corresponding author
Rocha-Rego, Vanessa
ORCID
Venue
PLoS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2012-08-31
Volume
7
Issue
8
Pages
e42560
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0042560
PMC
PMC3432060
OpenAlex
W1974060063
Cited by
55
References
14
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 1
FWCI
4.73
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Americanae (AECID Library) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
  • Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
  • Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Traumatic Brain Injury Research
Keywords
post-traumatic stress disorder, urban violence, premotor cortex, ventral premotor cortex, pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, gray matter volume, peripersonal space, armed robbery, structural brain abnormalities, trauma exposure
MeSH terms
Adult, Brain, Brain Mapping, Female, Frontal Lobe, Gyrus Cinguli, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Motor Cortex, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Urban Population, Violence, Wounds and Injuries, Prefrontal Cortex

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