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Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Circulating biomarkers and neuroanatomical brain structures differ in older adults with and without post-traumatic stress disorder
Scientific Reports, Vol.15(1), pp.1-13
2025
PMID: 40021745
Abstract
The aim of this study was to advance post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) understanding in older adults (48–77 years) by determining if circulating cytokines (IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-12p70, IL17A and TNFα), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A) and neuroanatomical brain volumes (grey and white matter, hippocampus, and amygdala) significantly differed in those with versus without PTSD. While none of the tested cytokines showed a significant difference, serum BDNF and VEGF-A levels were found to be significantly higher in the PTSD cohort. The assay used for BDNF quantification was important, with differences in general BDNF detected, but not when pro- and mature BDNF were measured specifically. Additionally, BDNF genotyping revealed a significant difference in Val66Met genotype distribution by PTSD diagnosis, with Val66Met carriers generally having lower circulating levels of BDNF compared to their Val66Val counterparts, regardless of PTSD diagnosis. Neuroanatomically, an all-female subset was examined to find total grey and white matter volumes and left and right hippocampal volumes were significantly smaller in those with PTSD. Collectively, these results show that both novel (VEGF-A) and established targets (BDNF and neuroimaging) may serve as useful biomarkers for older adults with PTSD.
Details
- Title
- Circulating biomarkers and neuroanatomical brain structures differ in older adults with and without post-traumatic stress disorder
- Authors
- Bonnie L. Quigley (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteNathan Wellington - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteJacob M. Levenstein - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteMegan Dutton - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteAna P. Bouças - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteGrace Forsyth - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteCyrana C. Gallay - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteMaryam Hajishafiee - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteCiara Treacy - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteJim Lagopoulos - Thompson Brain and Mind Healthcare (Australia)Sophie C. Andrews - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteAdem T. Can - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteDaniel F. Hermens - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson Institute
- Publication details
- Scientific Reports, Vol.15(1), pp.1-13
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41598-025-91840-0
- ISSN
- 2045-2322; 2045-2322
- PMID
- 40021745
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
- Data Availability
- All molecular biology data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article (and its Supplementary Information files). Neuroimaging data is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
- Grant note
- We acknowledge the Wilson Foundation, who provided generous funding support for the LEISURE study. This work also wishes to acknowledge the Australian Commonwealth Government’s ‘Prioritizing Mental Health Initiative’ for funding support.
- Organisation Unit
- Healthy Ageing Research Cluster; UniSC Clinical Trials Centre; Thompson Institute
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991108023702621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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