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Abstract Introduction Trauma reexperiencing is dominated by recollection of sensory‐perceptual elements of the trauma, pointing to involvement of the sensory thalamus. This study examined posttraumatic stress symptoms in relation to volumes of thalamic nuclei that were grouped based on their predominant functions. We hypothesized that reexperiencing, controlling for other symptom dimensions, would correlate with volumes of thalamic nuclei involved in primary and higher‐order sensory processing. Methods Seventy‐two trauma‐exposed adults were interviewed with the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM‐IV and underwent 3T magnetic resonance imaging. Scores were derived for reexperiencing, anxious arousal, dysphoric arousal, emotional numbing, and avoidance symptoms. These were entered as simultaneous predictors in five separate regression analyses, with age, sex, and total thalamus volume as covariates, predicting volumesf of five thalamus nuclear groupings corrected for intracranial volume: Specific sensory, associative‐sensory, associative‐cognitive, intralaminar, and motor groupings. Results Reexperiencing symptoms were significantly positively correlated with volumes of the motor thalamic grouping, which included the ventral anterior, ventral lateral, and ventromedial nuclei. Anxious arousal was significantly negatively correlated with volumes of all five thalamic groupings. Conclusions Reexperiencing symptoms were correlated with volumes of the motor thalamus, while anxious arousal symptoms were related to all thalamic subregion volumes. Thalamic nuclei involved in motor functions, including oculomotor control and motor planning, may be implicated in posttraumatic reexperiencing symptoms.

Abstract Background Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with markers of accelerated aging. Estimates of brain age, compared to chronological age, may clarify the effects of PTSD on the brain and may inform treatment approaches targeting the neurobiology of aging in the context of PTSD. Method Adult subjects (N = 2229; 56.2% male) aged 18–69 years (mean = 35.6, SD = 11.0) from 21 ENIGMA‐PGC PTSD sites underwent T1‐weighted brain structural magnetic resonance imaging, and PTSD assessment (PTSD+, n = 884). Previously trained voxel‐wise (brainageR) and region‐of‐interest (BARACUS and PHOTON) machine learning pipelines were compared in a subset of control subjects (n = 386). Linear mixed effects models were conducted in the full sample (those with and without PTSD) to examine the effect of PTSD on brain predicted age difference (brain PAD; brain age − chronological age) controlling for chronological age, sex, and scan site. Results BrainageR most accurately predicted brain age in a subset (n = 386) of controls (brainageR: ICC = 0.71, R = 0.72, MAE = 5.68; PHOTON: ICC = 0.61, R = 0.62, MAE = 6.37; BARACUS: ICC = 0.47, R = 0.64, MAE = 8.80). Using brainageR, a three‐way interaction revealed that young males with PTSD exhibited higher brain PAD relative to male controls in young and old age groups; old males with PTSD exhibited lower brain PAD compared to male controls of all ages. Discussion Differential impact of PTSD on brain PAD in younger versus older males may indicate a critical window when PTSD impacts brain aging, followed by age‐related brain changes that are consonant with individuals without PTSD. Future longitudinal research is warranted to understand how PTSD impacts brain aging across the lifespan.

Abstract Background Childhood maltreatment may contribute to brain alterations in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We previously found that PTSD was associated with white matter compromise, or lower fractional anisotropy (FA), in the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF). In this study, including non‐PTSD controls, we examined whether ILF FA was associated with maltreatment exposures, including those that meet DSM‐IV criterion A (physical abuse, sexual abuse) and those that typically do not (emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect). We hypothesized that lower FA would be associated with PTSD diagnosis and with both categories of maltreatment. Methods Ninety‐three participants (51 female), ages 20–50, were enrolled, including 32 with lifetime DSM‐IV PTSD, 27 trauma‐exposed non‐PTSD controls, and 34 healthy controls. Participants completed structured interviews, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and diffusion‐weighted imaging (36 directions). Probabilistic tractography (using FreeSurfer's TRACULA) was used to assess diffusion metrics in the ILF. Results Contrary to our hypothesis, there was no significant effect of diagnostic group on FA. In contrast, higher CTQ scores were significantly associated with lower FA in the ILF bilaterally. This association of maltreatment with lower FA remained statistically significant after controlling for diagnostic group, and it was significant for both criterion‐A‐type and noncriterion‐A‐type maltreatment categories. Conclusions This work contributes to a growing body of literature indicating that different forms of childhood maltreatment are associated with altered white matter microstructure in the ILF, an association pathway involved in integrating visual information from occipital regions with emotion processing functions of the anterior temporal lobe.