Top-down and bottom-up control of stress-coping.

In this 30th anniversary issue review, we focus on the glucocorticoid modulation of limbic-prefrontocortical circuitry during stress-coping. This action of the stress hormone is mediated by mineralocorticoid receptors (MRs) and glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) that are co-expressed abundantly in these higher brain regions. Via both receptor types, the glucocorticoids demonstrate, in various contexts, rapid nongenomic and slower genomic actions that coordinate consecutive stages of information processing.

Neuroendocrine and immune responses to a cognitive stress challenge in veterans with and without PTSD.

Background: PTSD has been associated with altered hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal-axis (HPA-axis), immune and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) regulation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of cognitive stress on these systems in PTSD patients and controls.

Methods: The subjective units of distress score (SUDS), NK-cell response, plasma levels of noradrenalin and ACTH in response to cognitive stress were assessed in male veterans with PTSD (n=15) and age, region and year of deployment matched veterans without psychopathology (n=15).

Neuropsychological performance is related to current social and occupational functioning in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Background: Several studies have reported deficits in both immediate and delayed recall of verbal memory in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, most of these studies had several methodological disadvantages. None of these studies assessed parameters related to social or occupational functioning.

Thinner prefrontal cortex in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Structural neuroimaging studies in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have focused primarily on structural alterations in the medial temporal lobe, and only a few have examined grey matter reductions in the cortex. Recent advances in computational analysis provide new opportunities to use semi-automatic techniques to determine cortical thickness, but these techniques have not yet been applied in PTSD. Twenty-five male veterans with PTSD and twenty-five male veterans without PTSD matched for age, year and region of deployment were recruited.

Precuneal activity during encoding in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Impaired attention and memory are symptoms frequently associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Previous studies have identified fronto-temporal alterations during encoding in patients with PTSD. We examine the role of the precuneus (located in the posteromedial parietal lobe) that is known to play a role in memory, but has largely been neglected in PTSD research.

Neural correlates of associative learning and memory in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Impaired attention and memory are symptoms frequently associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although patients with PTSD frequently report memory difficulties and empirical research provides support for a memory deficit in PTSD, as of yet, no fMRI study has adequately investigated the neural correlates of learning and memory of neutral (i.e.

Altered pain processing in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Context: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic and debilitating anxiety disorder. Several brain areas related to pain processing are implicated in PTSD. To our knowledge, no functional imaging study has discussed whether patients with PTSD experience and process pain in a different way than control subjects.