Evidence of Hippocampal Structural Alterations in Gulf War Veterans With Predicted Exposure to the Khamisiyah Plume.

Objectives: To replicate and expand our previous findings of smaller hippocampal volumes in Gulf War (GW) veterans with predicted exposure to the Khamisiyah plume.

Methods: Total hippocampal and hippocampal subfield volumes were quantified from 3 Tesla magnetic resonance images in 113 GW veterans, 62 of whom had predicted exposure as per the Department of Defense exposure models.

Results: Veterans with predicted exposure had smaller total hippocampal and CA3/dentate gyrus volumes compared with unexposed veterans, even after accounting for potentially confounding genetic and clinical variables.