PTSD Susceptibility and Challenges: Pathophysiological Consequences of Behavioral Symptoms.

<bold>Introduction: </bold>Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop during the aftermath of traumatic events. Although many are impacted by several stressors, nearly 3.6% suffer from PTSD in the United States with higher incidence reported in military service personnel. Any injury to the blood-brain barrier can ignite an array of biological signaling molecules in the immune-privileged brain parenchyma, which can disrupt the synaptic neural network, resulting in altered behavior.<bold>Materials and Methods: </bold>In this preliminary study, we compared 20 PTSD veterans with age-matched healthy veterans to identify plasma levels of brain-specific protein markers using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay/immunofluorometric sandwich assay for neurotrophic factors and neuropoietic cytokines, and catalytic activity of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) by zymography.<bold>Results: </bold>We observed an increased level of glial fibrillary acidic protein, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin 6, and MMP2 and MMP9 but decreased level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, nerve growth factor-beta, and negligible difference in astroglial marker S100 calcium-binding protein B compared to controls.<bold>Conclusion: </bold>Identification of neural biomarkers is essential to understand the subclinical symptoms for the diagnosis PTSD, which may not be visible by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI/fMRI) and may take years to clinically manifest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]