Project Details for

Completed Research Projects

Title: HPA Axis Reactivity in Men and Women with Chronic PTSD
Synopsis: This study was designed to evaluate the brain functions in men and women with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.
Overall Summary: See project objective.
Overall Project Objective: To gain a further understanding of the pathophysiology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Results to Date: Thus far, 48 subjects have been enrolled into the study. Twenty have finished the study and 7 have been screened and are waiting to start the study protocol.
Project: VA-77
Agency: Department Of Veterans Affairs
Location: VAMC West Haven
P.I. Name: Ann M Rasmusson
Status: Complete
Study Start Date: October 01, 2001
Estimated Completion Date: September 30, 2004
Specific Aims: It is thought that high cortisol levels contribute to the negative effects of stress on the structure and function of certain areas of the brain (e.g., hippocampus, prefrontal cortex) that are thought to be involved in the production of symptoms and functional disabilities associated with chronic PTSD. In addition, the steroid dehydropeiandrosterone (DHEA) has antiglucocorticoid activity and may play a mechanistic role in upregulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in response to traumatic stress. This current study aims to replicate findings of an earlier study in premenopausal women that found that PTSD subjects had increased adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol responses to corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), as well as increased cortisol and DHEA responses to ACTH, compared to non-traumatized controls. Positive correlations between the subjects' cortisol responses to CRF, cortisol responses to ACTH and 24-hour urinary free-cortisol levels were also found. Thus, the specific aims of this current study are: to 1) determine whether findings of increased pituitary ACTH and adrenal cortisol reactivity to CRF administration and increased adrenal cortisol and DHEA reactivity to ACTH administration can be replicated in premenopausal women with chronic PTSD; and 2) examine pituitary ACTH and adrenal cortisol reactivity to CRF administration and adrenal cortisol and DHEA reactivity to ACTH in male combat veterans with chronic PTSD.
Methodology: The project will be conducted at the National Center for PTSD, Neuroscience Division, VA, Connecticut. Premenopausal females and male veterans with PTSD will be compared to age-and weight-matched healthy trauma controls and non-traumatized controls. Subjects will be outpatients, medication free, abstinent from substances of abuse for at least once month prior to study, and matched for nicotine use. Subjects will participate in ACTH and CRF stimulation tests as well as a 24-hour urine collection. Females will be studied in the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle when progesterone and estrogen levels are low and constant. The data will be analyzed using a random effects model with post hoc tests adjusted for multiple comparisons.
Publications:
No Publications at this time...