UNIFORMEDSERVICES
UNIVERSITY
10th Annual
Amygdala, Stressand PTSD Conference:
Of Mice and Man
CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF TRAUMATIC STRESS

10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and
PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man
APRIL 21, 2015
Sanford Auditorium & Lobby, Building B
Uniformed Services University
Bethesda, MD

www.AmygdalaPTSDconference.org
SPONSORED BY:
The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (USU), Department of Psychiatry (USU),
Neuroscience Program (USU), Department of Family Medicine (USU), andDepartment of Psychiatry (WRNMMC)

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man2

10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

UNIFORMED SERVICES UNIVERSITYCENTER FOR THE STUDY OF TRAUMATIC STRESS

10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and
PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man
APRIL 21, 2015
Sanford Auditorium & Lobby, Building B
Uniformed Services University
Bethesda, MD

www.AmygdalaPTSDconference.org
SPONSORED BY:
The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (USU), Department of Psychiatry (USU),
Neuroscience Program (USU), Department of Family Medicine (USU), andDepartment of Psychiatry (WRNMMC)

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Background
The Amygdala Conference series is sponsored by the Center for the Study of TraumaticStress under the direction of Robert J. Ursano, MD, the USU Graduate Neuroscience
Program under the direction of Sharon L. Juliano, PhD, and also by the Department of
Family Medicine under the direction of Mark Stephens, MD.

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Table of Contents
Small Table Discussion Groups.................................................................................... 2
Agenda............................................................................................................................. 3
Conference Speakers...................................................................................................... 4Moderators...................................................................................................................... 7
Conference Leadership.................................................................................................. 8
Conference Committee............................................................................................... 10
Conference Posters....................................................................................................... 11
Continuing Education Credit..................................................................................... 241

10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Small Table Discussion Groups
Small Dining Room 0800–0900
USU Cafeteria
Please join our small group discussions from 0800–0850 in the Small Dining
Room of the USU cafeteria, Building B. Each of the conference speakers will
be available for more personalized and direct interaction with conference
attendees. Separate registration for the discussion sessions is not necessary.
Everyone registered for the conference is welcome and encouraged to attend.

Speakers
Table 1: Dwight Bergles, PhD
Dynamic Behavior of Oligodendrocytes and their
Progenitors in the Adult Brain

Table 4: Jacek Debiec, MD, PhD
The Neurobiology of the Intergenerational Social
Transmission of Emotional Trauma

Table 2: Harvey Pollard, MD, PhD
Big Data Meets the Brain

Table 5: Daniel Stein, MD, PhD
Trauma and PTSD in South Africa

Table 3: Abigail Marsh, PhD
Empathy on a Sliding Scale: Is Altruism theInverse of Psychopathy?

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

AGENDA
0800-0900

Registration, Small Group Discussions and Poster Review

0900-0905

Conference Announcements Gary H. Wynn, MD

0905-0915

Welcome and Introduction Robert J. Ursano, MD

0915-1000
Dwight E. Bergles, PhD — Dynamic Behavior of Oligodendrocytes and their Progenitors 					in the Adult Brain				
1000-1045

Harvey B. Pollard, MD, PhD — Big Data Meets the Brain		

1045-1115

Coffee Break and Poster Review in Lobby

1115-1145

Discussion Panel 1 — Moderator, Christopher G. Ivany, MD

1145-1245

Lunch

1245-1330

Abigail Marsh, PhD — Empathy on a Sliding Scale Is Altruism the Inverse of Psychopathy?

1330-1415
		

Jacek Debiec, MD, PhD — The Neurobiology of the Intergenerational Social 		Transmission of Emotional Trauma

1415-1445

Coffee Break and Poster Review in Lobby

1445-1530

Daniel Stein, MD, PhD — Trauma and PTSD In South Africa

1530-1600

Discussion Panel 2 — Moderator, Geoffrey G. Grammer, MD

1600-1615

Robert J. Ursano, MD — Closing Remarks and Presentation of Travel Awards

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Conference Speakers
Dwight E. Bergles, PhD

Jacek Debiec, MD, PhD

Dr. Bergles is Professor in the
Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience at Johns
Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, where he also
holds a joint appointment in
the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.
He serves as Director for theMultiphoton Imaging Core facility at JHU, Co-Director of the Neuroscience Graduate
Program and has been a faculty member in the Neurobiology Course at the MBL.
Dr. Bergles received his bachelor’s degree in Biology from Boston University and PhD in Molecular
and Cellular Physiology from Stanford University. He
completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Vollum Institute in Portland, Oregon before joining the faculty at
Johns Hopkins University in 2000 as Assistant Professor.
He was promoted to Professor in 2011. The goals of
Dr. Bergles’s laboratory are to understand how neurons
and glial cells interact at synapses, and how glial cells
contribute to CSN repair and disease progression. Hisstudies have included analysis of glutamate transporter
function in astrocytes, ATP release from glial cells in thedeveloping cochlea, and the development and dysfunction of oligodendroglia.
As a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Bergles discoveredthat a distinct class of glial progenitor cells in the CNS
known as “oligodendrocyte precursor cells” or “NG2+cells” form direct synapses with neurons. This remains
the only known example of glial cell innervation. As afaculty member at JHU, he has continued to study the
behavior of NG2+ cells, using a variety of electrophysiological, imaging and genetic approaches. To gain insight
into the biology of these enigmatic glial cells, his groupdeveloped new lines of transgenic mice that enablevisualization and manipulation of NG2+ cells and theiroligodendrocyte progeny in vivo, as well as mice inwhich NG2+ cells can be selectively deleted from theadult brain. These tools are providing new insight into
the behavior and function of these ubiquitous progenitors in both health and disease.

Dr. Debiec is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and an Assistant Research
Professor in the Molecular andBehavioral Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor. He received his MD
from Jagiellonian University
in Krakow, Poland where healso completed a psychiatricresidency and doctoral studies in transcultural psychiatry during which he investigated the phenomenon ofpossession trance. He also holds a DPhil. in philosophyof science from John Paul II Pontifical University. As a
Fulbright Fellow he trained in neuroscience with Joseph
E. LeDoux at New York University where he completed
his second residency in psychiatry and a fellowship inchild and adolescent psychiatry. He studies the neurobiological mechanisms of emotional learning. He was
the first to demonstrate that noradrenergic blockade by
propranolol disrupts the reconsolidation of fear memories in the amygdala.
In his current projects he studies molecular andneural mechanisms of fear learning in infancy. His
lab investigates how trauma affects attachment andhow healthy attachment and bonding protect from theeffects of trauma. His group works on identifying neuralcircuits and molecular mechanisms underlying infant’svulnerability and resilience to psychological trauma
with the ultimate goal of developing interventions reversing negative effects of these early childhood adversities. His recent work on intergenerational transmissionof trauma (Debiec & Sullivan, PNAS 2014) was featured
by numerous national and international media including: Newsweek, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The
Verge, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, CTV News, Shanghai
News, The Times of India, YTN, Al-Jazeera, Fars News,Die Welt, Deutschlandfunk, La Stampa and others. He
recently published “The Emotional Brain Revisited”(Copernicus Center Press, 2014).

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Abigail Marsh, PhD

Harvey B. Pollard, MD, PhD

Dr. Marsh is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Georgetown
University where she teaches andconducts research on social andaffective neuroscience. She received her PhD in Social Psychology from Harvard University in
2004, and conducted post-doctoral
research in the Unit on Affective
Cognitive Neuroscience at the
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) from 20042008. At Georgetown, her research program focuses on
characterizing the neural substrates of empathy andbehaviors like altruism and aggression that empathy canpromote or inhibit. This research is primarily aimed ataddressing questions like: How do people understandwhat others think and feel? What drives us to help
other people? What prevents us from harming them?
She addresses these questions using multiple methods
that include functional and structural brain imaging inadolescents and adults from both healthy and clinicalpopulations, as well as behavioral, cognitive, genetic, andpharmacological techniques.
Her work with James Blair at the NIMH includes
the first ever neuroimaging studies to identify thepathophysiology of psychopathy in adolescents. This
research implicated disruptions in the functioning of
the amygdala and associated structures in the striatum
and prefrontal cortex in the development of psychopathy. Her subsequent research has directly linked theamygdala pathophysiology identified in youths withpsychopathic traits to their aggressive behavior. Recent
research aims to explore empathy by assessing neuraland cognitive function in extraordinary altruists.
She recently completed the first ever series of structural and functional neuroimaging studies comparing
altruistic living kidney donors to controls. This researchfound that highly altruistic individuals exhibit patternsof amygdala structure and functioning that are opposite to those of psychopaths, suggesting that empathic
responsiveness may exist on a spectrum, and that common mechanisms can be used to understand both very
prosocial and very antisocial behavior.

Dr. Pollard is Director of the
USU Center for Medical Proteomics, sponsored originallyby the National Heart, Lung andBlood Institute (NHLBI). He is
also Director of the Collaborative Health Initiative Research
Program (CHIRP), a wholegenome sequencing (WGS)
program of investigation, jointly
sponsored by NHLBI and the Department of Defense.
The goal is to develop “precision medicine” as an aid todiagnosis and treatment of disorders of common interest in both civilian and military disease cohorts.
Dr. Pollard received his undergraduate degreefrom Rice University, and his MD and PhD from the
University of Chicago. Following postdoctoral training
with Dr. Christian B. Anfinsen at the NIH, and withProfessors David Phillips and Louise Johnson at Oxford
University, Dr. Pollard returned to the NIH in the United States Public Health Service (USPHS), eventually
becoming intramural Chief of the Laboratory of Pathology, and the Laboratory of Cell Biology and Genetics,
NIDDK. Dr. Pollard subsequently became Chair of the
Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, at
the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine,
Bethesda, MD. His principal hypothesis-driven research
focus has been on the genetics of calcium signaling in
the brain, traumatic brain injury, Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder, and the role of downstream pro-inflammatory
signaling as a mediator of tissue injury, both centrally
and peripherally. Dr. Pollard has received the NIH Inventor’s Award and has authored over 300 peer reviewed
papers and numerous invited chapters.

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Daniel Stein, MD, PhD
science and humanism, and contributes to addressing
some of the big questions posed by life.
Dr. Stein’s work ranges from basic neuroscience,
through clinical investigations and trials, and on to epidemiological and cross-cultural studies. He is enthusiastic about the possibility of clinical practice and scientificresearch that integrates theoretical concepts and empirical data across these different levels. Having worked formany years in South Africa, he is also enthusiastic about
establishing integrative approaches to services, training,
and research in the context of a low and-middle-income
country.
Dr. Stein has authored or edited over 30 volumes,
including “Cognitive-Affective Neuroscience of Moodand Anxiety Disorders”, and “The Philosophy of Psychopharmacology: Smart Pills, Happy Pills, Pep Pills.”
His work has been continuously funded by extramural
grants for more than 20 years. He is a recipient of the
Max Hamilton Memorial Award from the Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmacologicum (CINP) for
his contribution to psychopharmacology, and of CINP’s
Ethics and Psychopharmacology Award for his contribution to the philosophy of psychopharmacology.

Dr. Stein is Professor and Chair of
the Department of Psychiatry and
Mental Health at the University ofCape Town, Director of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Unit
on Anxiety & Stress Disorders, andVisiting Professor of Psychiatry
at Mt. Sinai Medical School in
New York. He is interested in thepsychobiology and managementof the anxiety, obsessive-compulsive and related, andtraumatic and stress disorders. He has also mentored
work in other areas that are of particular relevance toSouth Africa and Africa, including neuroHIV/AIDS andsubstance use disorders.
Dr. Stein did his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Cape Town, and his doctorate(in the area of clinical neuroscience) at the University of
Stellenbosch. He trained in psychiatry, and completed
a post-doctoral fellowship (in the area of psychopharmacology) at Columbia University in New York. His
training also includes a doctorate in philosophy. He
is inspired by the way in which psychiatry integrates

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Moderators
Lieutenant Colonel Christopher G. Ivany, MD

Colonel Geoffrey G. Grammer, MD

Dr. Christopher Ivany is
Chief of the Behavioral
Health Division at the Officeof the Army Surgeon General and Army Director of
Psychological Health. Dr.
Ivany was born in Madison,
WI. He attended ProvidenceCollege where he majored in
Biology and earned his Armycommission through ROTC in 1997. Dr. Ivany attended medical school at the University of Texas, Health
Science Center in San Antonio, TX and graduated in
2001. He completed his internship and residency inPsychiatry at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where
he served as Chief Resident from 2004–2005. In 2007,
he completed a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, HI.
Dr. Ivany was assigned to Ft. Hood, TX where he served
as the 4th Infantry Division Psychiatrist. He deployedwith 4ID to Baghdad for OIF 07-09. In 2009, Dr. Ivany
and his family moved to Ft. Carson, CO. From 2010
to 2012, Dr. Ivany served as the Chief of the Department of Behavioral Health at Evans Army Community
Hospital. Dr. Ivany has several publications in national
peer-reviewed journals. He also has several professionalrecognitions and military awards, including the BronzeStar.

COL Grammer is Chief ofResearch, National Intrepid
Center of Excellence (NICoE),
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. COL
Grammer currently holds
board certification in Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, andBehavioral Neurology and
Neuropsychiatry. He is alsoan Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Uniformed
Services University (USU), Bethesda, MD. Prior to his
present position, COL Grammer served as Chief ofInpatient Psychiatry Services for eight years at Walter
Reed National Military Medical Center which covers
the 28 bed General Psychiatry and 6 bed Neuropsychiatry wards.
COL Grammer completed his Bachelor of Sciencein Biology at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute before
beginning his training at USU where he graduated in
1996. Subsequently, he completed a residency in Internal
Medicine and General Psychiatry at Walter Reed Army
Medical Center, followed by a fellowship in Geriatric
Psychiatry.
COL Grammer has completed two deployments
to Iraq. During his first deployment he served as the
Medical Director for the 785th Combat Stress Control
Company and he was a psychiatrist at the Combat
Support Hospital at COB Speicher during his second
deployment.
COL Grammer’s military awards include the BronzeStar Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal (3rd Award), Army Achievement Medal(3rd Award), Iraq Campaign Medal (3stars), Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service
Medal, NATO ISAF Medal, National Defense Service
Medal (2nd Award), Army Service Ribbon, Army Superior Unit Award and Overseas Service Ribbon (3rdAward).

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Conference Leadership
Lieutenant Colonel Gary H. Wynn, MD

Robert J. Ursano, MD

Dr. Wynn is Assistant Chair andAssociate Professor, Departmentof Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University and Scientist,
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress. After graduating from
West Point in 1996, Dr. Wynn
received his medical degreefrom the Uniformed Services
University (USU) in Bethesda,
MD. Dr. Wynn completed a residency in Psychiatry andInternal Medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
After completing his residency, he spent a year as theDivision Psychiatrist for the 2nd Infantry Division atCamp Casey, Korea. Dr. Wynn spent the next three
years as the Assistant Chief of Inpatient Psychiatry at
Walter Reed Army Medical Center where he worked
with service members returning from the conflicts in
Iraq and Afghanistan. From 2009 through 2013, Dr.
Wynn worked as a research psychiatrist in the Military
Psychiatry Branch of the Center for Military Psychiatry
and Neuroscience at the Walter Reed Army Institute of
Research in Silver Spring, MD. In July, 2013, Dr. Wynn
joined the USU Department of Psychiatry. He has
published textbooks on the topics of drug interaction
principles for medical practice and the clinical management of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as
fourteen book chapters and seventeen journal articles.
His presentations at national and local conferences havecovered topics ranging from drug interactions to PTSD
and mild traumatic brain injury.

Dr. Ursano is Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience andChairman of the Departmentof Psychiatry at the Uniformed
Services University, Bethesda, Maryland. He is founding
Director of the Center for the
Study of Traumatic Stress. In
addition, Dr. Ursano is Editorof Psychiatry, the distinguishedjournal of interpersonal and biological processes,
founded by Harry Stack Sullivan. Dr. Ursano completed
twenty years service in USAF medical corps and retired
as Colonel in 1991. He was educated at the Universityof Notre Dame and Yale University School of Medicine
and did his psychiatric training at Wilford Hall USAF
Medical Center and Yale University.
Dr. Ursano served as the Department of Defense
representative to the National Advisory Mental HealthCouncil of the National Institute of Mental Health andis a past member of the Veterans Affairs Mental HealthStudy Section and the National Institute of Mental
Health Rapid Trauma and Disaster Grant Review Section. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow in the American
Psychiatric Association and a Fellow of the American
College of Psychiatrists. Dr. Ursano was the first Chairman of the American Psychiatric Association’s Committee on Psychiatric Dimensions of Disaster. This work
greatly aided the integration of psychiatry and publichealth in times of disaster and terrorism. Dr. Ursano
was an invited participant to the White House Mental
Health Conference in 1999. He has received the Department of Defense Humanitarian Service Award andthe highest award of the International Traumatic StressSociety, The Lifetime Achievement Award, for “outstanding and fundamental contributions to understanding
traumatic stress.” He is the recipient of the William C.
Porter Award from the Association of Military Surgeonsof the United States, the William Menninger Award
Continued

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Robert J. Ursano, MD, Continuedof the American College of Physicians and the James
Leonard Award of the Uniformed Services University.
He is a frequent advisor on issues surrounding psychological response to trauma to the highest levels of the
US Government and specifically to the Department of
Defense leadership.
Dr. Ursano has served as a frequent member of
the National Academies of Science, Institute of Medicine Committees and working groups including theCommittee on Psychological Responses to Terrorism,
Committee on PTSD, the Committee on Compensation
for PTSD in Veterans and the Committee on Nuclear
Preparedness; and the National Institute of Mental
Health Task Force on Mental Health Surveillance After
Terrorist Attack. In addition, he has served as a memberof scientific advisory boards to the Secretary of Healthand Human Services for disaster mental health andthe Centers for Disease Control for preparedness andterrorism. Dr. Ursano is co-principal investigator of thelargest NIMH grant ever given for the study of suicidein the U.S. Army. In collaboration with his co-principal
investigators at Harvard University, the University ofMichigan and University of California, San Diego, theArmy STARRS grant will be the Framingham Studyof suicidal behavior, and address a national as well as
DoD mental health need. In 2014, Dr. Ursano and Dr.
Matthew Friedman of the VA National Center for PTSD
co-founded the Friedman-Leahy Brain Bank supported
through Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). It is the first human brain bank dedicated to PTSD. This joint effort ofmany people was a 12 year project developing concepts,
pilot data and support. Dr. Ursano has over 300 publications. He is co-author or editor of eight books.

910th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Conference Committee
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress
Uniformed Services University

Robert J. Ursano, MD
Professor and Chair
Department of Psychiatry
Director
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress
Uniformed Services University

Jeffrey L. Goodie, PhD, ABPP
CDR, USPHSAssociate Professor
Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology
Department of Family Medicine
Uniformed Services University

Gary H. Wynn, MD, 2015 Chairman
LTC, MC, USA
Assistant Chair, Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Scientist
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress
Uniformed Services University

F. Julian Lantry, BA
Research AssistantCenter for the Study of Traumatic Stress
Department of Psychiatry
Uniformed Services University

David Mears, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics
Uniformed Services University

Rondricueas J. Barlow, TSgt, USAFNCOIC, Department of Psychiatry
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress
Air Force Unit Fitness Program Manager
Unit Prevention Leader
Uniformed Services University

Ronald J. Whalen, PhD
LTC, MSC, USA
Assistant Professor, Counseling Services
Department of Family Medicine
Uniformed Services University

Syrus Henderson, MSgt, USAF
Flight Chief, Department of Psychiatry
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress
Uniformed Services University

Mary Lee Dichtel, RN
Senior Medical Editor
Program Coordinator
Educational Support Management Services, LLC

Gwendolyn Morris
Program Support Specialist
Department of Psychiatry
Uniformed Services University

K. Nikki Benevides, MA
Assistant to the Director and Scientific Program
Coordinator
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress
Department of Psychiatry
Uniformed Services University

We extend special thanks to:
Gina Carlton, CMP, CGMP
Meetings Manager
Office of Education and Meetings
Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the 		
Advancement of Military Medicine

Kwang Choi, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Program in 		
Neuroscience1010th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Conference Posters
Presented in Lobby
Travel Award Winner
Modeling HIV-1-Induced Platelet-Mediated Dysfunction of the Blood-Brain Barrier……… 12

Posters
Psychophysiological Investigation of Combat Veterans with Subthreshold PTSD Symptoms 13
Improved Sleep in Military Personnel is Associated with Changes in the Expression of
Inflammatory Genes and Improvement in PTSD and Depression Symptoms………… 14
Individual Differences in Opioid Analgesia, Opioid Self-Administration and Gene Expressionin White Blood Cells of Rats……………………………………………………………… 15
Emotional Contrast Avoidance versus Emotional Avoidance in Mediating the Relationship
Between Worry and PTSD Symptom Severity…………………………………………… 16
High Frequency Amygdalar Stimulation Upregulates the Neuro-Peptide Y System and
Decreases Anxiety in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder…………………………………… 17
Differential diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury
using Serum MicroRNA Signatures: A Comparative Study of Closed Head Injury andTraumatic Stress Rodent Models ………………………………………………………… 18
Overview of the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (ArmySTARRS)…………………………………………………………………………………… 19
Precision Medicine for PTSD and Elevated Risk for Cardiovascular Disease………………… 20
Mediation of Deployment Preparedness on the Association between Augmentee Status and
PTSD Symptoms in Reserve and National Guard Members…………………………… 21
Serial FDG-PET Imaging Reveals Functional Changes in the Amygdala of a Controlled
Cortical Impact Small Animal Model of Traumatic Brain Injury………………………… 22
Analysis of Functional and Structural Changes after Explosive Blast Injury:
A Rat Pilot Study…………………………………………………………………………… 23

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

TRAVEL AWARD WINNER
Modeling HIV-1-Induced Platelet-Mediated Dysfunctionof the Blood-Brain Barrier
Authors

Method: Wild-type C57BL/6 mice are administeredeither saline or the ecotropic virus, EcoHIV, via
intraperitoenal injection. Mice are sacrificed at 1, 2,
4 and 8 weeks post-infection. All harvested tissues
and plasma is stored at -80°C. Plasma is analyzed forplatelet activation and brain tissues are analyzed fora change in blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability.
All data is analyzed for statistical significance byt-test, one-way or two-way ANOVA using GraphPad
Prism software.

Letitia Jones, MS 1, Vir Singh, PhD 1, Donna
Davidson, PhD 2, Sanjay Maggirwar, PhD 1

Affiliations

1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology,
University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY
2. National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health, Pathology and Physiology Research
Branch, Morgantown, WV

Results: In this study, upon infection with EcoHIV, platelets are activated as demonstrated by theincrease in platelet factor 4 (PF4), sCD40L and thedecreased bleeding time in infected mice. In addition, the BBB’s permeability is increased as earlyas two-weeks post-infections, as indicated in thedecreased expression of tight junction proteins andthe increase of cellular factors that would be impermissible in an uncompromised BBB.

ABSTRACT

Background: Normally, the blood-brain barrier(BBB) serves to regulate transport into and out of
the CNS, thus serving as a protective barrier; however, in HIV-1infected individuals, the integrity of
the BBB is compromised due to an increase in theexpression of proinflammatory mediators as well
as viral proteins. sCD40L is released upon platelet activation and is an important mediator of thepathogenesis of HAND. However, the molecularmechanisms underlying this phenomenon are notfully understood. In order to recapitulate the factors
observed in HIV-1 positive individuals, an animalmodel is needed.

Conclusion: These results are evidence that plateletactivation and sCD40L are still mediators of BBB
disruption in a model of chronic inflammation.
Therefore, this animal model will serve as a stepping-stone toward expanding research into themolecular mechanisms underlying HAND, andunderscores the utility of this model to study further
therapeutic treatments.

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Psychophysiological Investigation of Combat Veteranswith Subthreshold PTSD Symptoms
Authors

We therefore assessed the psychophysical responsesof SMs, upon their return from Afghanistan or Iraq,
to a fear conditioning paradigm in order to better
understand the biological underpinnings of symptom severity.

Affiliations

Methods: Heart rate, skin conductance, electromyography startle, and respiratory rate were monitored
throughout three distinct phases of the paradigm—
fear acquisition, fear inhibition, and fear extinction—while plasma catecholamines (epinephrine,
norepinephrine and dopamine) were measured at
the end of fear acquisition.

Michelle E. Costanzo, PhD1,2, Tanja Jovanovic, PhD3,
Seth D. Norrholm, PhD4, Rochelle Ndiongue, RN5,
Brian Reinhardt, MS, MLS 6, Michael Roy, MD1,2

1. Department of Medicine, Uniformed Services
University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD,USA
2. Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative
Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA
3. Emory University School of Medicine,
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences,Atlanta, GA, USA
4. Mental Health Service Line, Atlanta Veterans’Affairs Medical Center, Atlanta, GA, USA
5. National Intrepid Center of Excellence, Walter
Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda,
MD, USA6. Department of Research Programs, Walter Reed
National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD,
USA

Results: Those with higher PTSD symptom severity demonstrated elevations in startle response todanger cues, heart rate response to both danger andsafety cues, impaired inhibition of fear, self-reported anxiety, and a trending respiratory rate response
during fear extinction. Moreover, an inverse relationship was seen between plasma dopamine andheart rate during fear inhibition for those with highsymptoms.

ABSTRACT

Conclusion: Overall, the physiological responses
we observed in our subthreshold PTSD population
parallel what has been previously observed in full
PTSD, making a case for addressing subthreshold
PTSD symptoms in combat veterans.

Objective: Military service members (SMs) withsubthreshold combat-related PTSD symptoms often
have clinically significant functional impairment,even though they do not meet full PTSD criteria.

1310th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Improved Sleep in Military Personnel is Associated with Changes
in the Expression of Inflammatory Genes and Improvement in
PTSD and Depression Symptoms
Authors

analysis was used to determine key regulators ofobserved expression changes. Changes in symptoms
of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder werealso compared in both groups.

Affiliations

Results: At baseline both groups were similar indemographics, clinical characteristics, and gene-expression profiles. The microarray data revealed that
217 coding genes were differentially expressed at thefollow-up period compared to baseline in the participants with improved sleep. Expression of inflammatory cytokine genes were reduced, including: IL-1β,
IL-6, IL-8 and IL-13, with fold changes ranging from
-3.19 to -2.1. There were increases in the expressionof inflammatory regulatory genes including toll-likereceptors 1, 4, 7, and 8 in the improved sleep groupcompared to the non-improved group. Interactive
pathway analysis revealed 6 gene networks, including ubiquitin, which related to observed gene-expression changes. The improved sleep group also hada significant reduction in the severity of depressive
as well as diminished PTSD symptoms.

Whitney S. Livingston, BA1, Heather L. Rusch, MS1,
Paula V. Nersesian, MPH1, 2, Tristin Baxter AAS 3,
Vincent Mysliwiec, MD3, Jessica M. Gill, PhD 1
1. National Institutes of Health, National Institutesof Nursing Research
2. Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
3. Madigan Army Medical Center

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Sleep disturbances arecommon in military personnel following deployment and are associated with an increased risk forpsychiatric morbidity, including posttraumatic stressdisorder and depression, as well as inflammation.
Improved sleep quality is linked to reductions ininflammatory proteins; however, the underlying
mechanisms remain elusive.
Methods: In this study we examine whole genome
expression changes related to improved sleep in
68 military personnel diagnosed with insomnia.
Subjects were classified into the following groups
and then compared: improved sleep (n=46), or
non-improved sleep (n=22) following three monthsof standard of care treatment for insomnia. Within subject differential expression was determinedfrom microarray data using the Partek Genomics
Suite analysis program and the interactive pathway

Conclusions: Interventions that restore sleep likely
reduce the expression of inflammatory genes, which
relate to ubiquitin genes and reductions in depressive and PTSD symptoms following deployment.
ously observed in full PTSD, making a case foraddressing subthreshold PTSD symptoms in combat
veterans.

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Individual Differences in Opioid Analgesia,
Opioid Self-Administration and Gene Expressionin White Blood Cells of Rats
Authorsa baseline, day 1, 3, and 5 of self-administration.
Blood samples were collected at multiple time points
including a baseline, during and after self-administration in order to measure mRNA levels of glucocorticoid and cannabinoid receptors in WBCs withreal-time quantitative PCR.

Kevin Nishida , Michael Nieves , Youngmi Ji , Lei
Zhang1,2,3, He Li1,2,3, Robert J. Ursano1,2,3 and Kwang
Choi1,2,3
1,2

3

4

Affiliations

1. Dept. of Psychiatry, USUHS, Bethesda, MD 20814
2. Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS),
Bethesda, MD 20814
3. Program in Neuroscience, USUHS, Bethesda, MD
20814
4. Dept. of Surgery, USUHS, Bethesda, MD 20814

Results: Animals showed a wide range of antinociception following 4 hours of intravenous morphineself-administration. The animals were grouped into
good responders (GRs) and poor responders (PRs)based on a median split of anti-nociception. PRs
exhibited addiction-like behavior such as increased
drug intake, behavioral sensitization and weightchange when compared with GRs. Gene expression
assay of glucocorticoid and cannabinoid receptors in
WBCs of these animals is in progress.

Abstract

Background: As many as one hundred million people may suffer from chronic pain and over 2 million
Americans may be addicted to opioid pain medications. Although opioids are widely prescribed, theiranalgesic efficacy fades gradually with repeated use.
Therefore, progressively higher doses of opioids are
required to achieve comparable analgesic effects, andthis may increase the likelihood of opioid addiction.

Conclusion: Individuals who do not respond well
to opioid pain medications may also be predisposedto opioid addiction, when given repeated access to
drugs. This finding is clinically important because
poor responders to opioid medications require higher doses of opioids and/or other pain medications,which may facilitate the addiction process in thoseindividuals. Early identification and intervention ofvulnerable individuals may improve the treatment
strategy for pain management and opioid abuse.

Method: We investigated individual differences inmorphine-induced antinociception and gene expression in white blood cells (WBCs) of rats. Male
Sprague Dawley rats self-administered intravenous
morphine (0.5 mg/kg/infusion, 4 hrs/day) or saline for 3 weeks. Antinociception was measured at15

10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Emotional Contrast Avoidance versus Emotional Avoidance inMediating the Relationship Between Worry and
PTSD Symptom Severity
Authors

Method: The present study analyzed the differential effects of emotional contrast avoidance andemotional avoidance in mediating worry on PTSD
symptom severity. Undergraduate students froma diverse university completed multiple questionnaires, in a lab setting, assessing PTSD symptom
severity, worry, emotional avoidance, and emotional
contrast avoidance. Multiple mediation models andbootstrapping confidence intervals were analyzed todetermine which variables resulted in the best fitting
model for mediating this relationship.

Nicole C. Tarter, B.S. & Sandra J. Llera, Ph.D.
1

1

Affiliation

1. Towson University, Towson, MD, USA

Abstract

Background: Individuals with PTSD experience
difficulties regulating their emotions signified byincreased emotion reactivity, fear of emotions, andreduced connectivity to prefrontal areas of the brainthat could regulate or reduce the emotion (Sripada
et al., 2012). One of the ways individuals with PTSD
may be attempting to regulate their emotions isthrough worry. The majority of literature on emotion regulation difficulties linking worry and PTSD
has specifically focused on emotional avoidance.
However, this is in contrast to all the evidence that
PTSD is associated with emotional hyperreactivity,
sustained hyperarousal, and chronic negative emotion. This evidence points more toward the theory of
emotional contrast avoidance, understood as maintaining a constant state of negative arousal throughworry as an attempt to avoid emotional contrasts orstrong shifts in one’s emotional states (Newman &Llera, 2011).

Results: The results demonstrated that emotional
contrast avoidance was the only significant mediator
between worry and PTSD symptom severity.
Conclusion: Furthermore, because worry has beenshown to increase negative affect and prevent further increases in response to negative stimuli (Llera& Newman; 2010, 2014), our data show that thosewith PTSD may be using worry to create a continuous negative emotional state and thereby avoid
experiencing negative emotional contrasts.

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

High Frequency Amygdalar Stimulation Upregulates the
Neuro-Peptide Y System and Decreases Anxiety in
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Authors1

ing with the elevated plus maze, confirming anxiety
symptoms existed. Next, stimulating electrodes were
implanted in the basolateral nucleus of the amygdalabilaterally. Rats underwent stimulation one week
later (4 hours/day for 7 days; current 300mA, pulse
width of 120μs, 160Hz). All animals were connectedto the electrodes but current was only delivered tothe stimulation groups. After stimulation, all animals
were tested on the elevated plus maze. After sacrifice,rats were processed for immunohistochemistry of
NPY, C-fos, and DAPI in the amygdala.

Bradley A. Dengler, MD, Naomi Sayre, PhD, Viktor
Bartanusz, MD, PhD, David Jimenez, MD, Alexander
Papanastassiou, MD

Affiliation

1. Department of Neurosurgery
The University of Texas Health Science Center at
San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas

Abstract

Background: PTSD continues to be a disabling condition affecting many Soldiers returning from Iraq
and Afghanistan. Increased Amygdala activity is iin
PTSD, led our group to hypothesize that amygdalar
stimulation may attenuate PTSD-related symptoms.
Additionally, human and animal studies indicate ananxiolytic function for the neurotransmitter Neuropeptide Y (NPY) in PTSD patients and models of
PTSD. We hypothesized that amygdalar stimulation
would attenuate behavioral effects in the predator
scent model of PTSD, and that effects would be mediated by NPY.

Results: Bilateral stimulation resulted in increased
mean time in the open arm of the elevated plus
maze (87±16.8 vs 32±9.7 sec, p<0.05, n=4), indicating decreased anxiety, while rats undergoing shamstimulation showed no change. Immunohistochemistry showed a twelve-fold increase in NPY peptide
levels in the amygdalae of stimulated rats.
Conclusions: Bilateral amygdalae stimulation
attenuated anxiety-like behavior in the predator
scent model of PTSD, and treatment was correlatedwith increased amygdalar NPY. Amygdalar stimulation may alleviate PTSD symptoms, and these data
provide the first evidence of a possible underlying
molecular mechanism.

Methods: Lewis rats (n=4/group, aged 10-12 weeks)
were exposed to feline urine soaked cat litter or fresh
cat litter for 15 minutes. Control groups consisted ofno urine exposure and urine exposure without stimulation. One-week later, rats underwent anxiety test-17

10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Differential Diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder andTraumatic Brain Injury using Serum MicroRNA Signatures:
A Comparative Study of Closed Head Injury
and Traumatic Stress Rodent Models
Authors

jury for four different CH-TBI groups and at 3 h andday 14 post stress for PTSD. Serum global miRNA
expression profiles were generated using TaqMan
MicroRNA Array cards.

Raghavendar Chandran, MS , Nagaraja S. Balakathiresan, PhD1, Manish Bhomia, PhD1, Anuj
Sharma PhD1, Erin S. Barry, MS2, Min Jia, PhD3,
He Li, PhD3, Neil E. Grunberg PhD2 and Radha K.
Maheshwari, PhD1.
1,4

Results: MiRNA profiling in serum showed thirteencommon miRNAs among four CH-TBI groups andnine common miRNAs between PTSD serum andamygdala respectively. However, the comparisonof altered serum miRNAs of CH-TBI and PTSD
showed no correlation. Pathway analysis of thirteen miRNAs and their validated targets showed
few of them to have a direct correlation with axon
guidance, depression and sensorimotor impairment
associated pathways. In PTSD, five out of nine miRNAs - miR-142-5p, miR-19b, miR-1928, miR-223
and miR-421-3p showed that they may play a role in
the regulation of genes associated with delayed andexaggerated fear.

Affiliations

1. Department of Pathology, Uniformed Services
University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD,
USA
2. Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology,
Uniformed Services University of the Health
Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA
3. Department of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services
University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD,
USA
4. Biological Sciences Group, Birla Institute ofTechnology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, India

Abstract

Conclusion: The differences in the serum miRNA
expression signatures of both the models could be
an outcome of the different functional pathways
activated post TBI or stress exposure in the brain
which in turn gets reflected in the alteration of the
global serum miRNA profile. These results indicatethat miRNA signatures can be used for the differential diagnosis of PTSD and TBI.

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
is often associated with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and their overlapping symptoms makes
distinction between these two disorders very difficult. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, endogenous,
noncoding RNA and the key regulators of gene
expression. Recently, circulating miRNAs in blood
have been reported to be sensitive and specific biomarkers of various diseases including brain injury.
The main objective of this study was to identify
serum miRNA signatures as differential biomarkers
between PTSD and mTBI.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funding from DMRDP(PI: Radha K Maheshwari). The opinions expressedherein are those of authors and are not necessarily
representative of those of the Uniformed Services
University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), theDepartment of Defense (DOD); or, the United States
Army, Navy, or Air Force and DMRDP.

Methods: In this study, we used a mouse model ofweight drop injury to recreate closed head traumaticbrain injury (CH-TBI) and a learned helplessness rat
model of PTSD. Serum was collected at 3 h post in18

10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Overview of the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience inServicemembers (Army STARRS)
Authors

University of California San Diego, Harvard Medical
School, and the University of Michigan.

James A. Naifeh, PhD , Catherine L. Dempsey, PhD,
MPH1, Carol S. Fullerton, PhD1, David M. Benedek,
MD1, Steven G. Heeringa, PhD2, Ronald C. Kessler,
PhD3, Murray B. Stein, PhD, MPH4,5, Matthew K.
Nock, PhD6, Kenneth L. Cox, MD, MPH7, Lisa J.
Colpe, PhD, MPH8, Michael Schoenbaum, PhD8,
Robert J. Ursano, MD1
1

Method: The six Army STARRS components include:the Historical Administrative Data Study (HADS), an
analysis of 38 integrated Army/DoD administrative
data systems containing records for all active duty
soldiers during 2004–2009; the New Soldier Study(NSS), a survey of soldiers just prior to the start of
Basic Combat Training (BCT) that included self-administered questionnaires (SAQs), neurocognitive
tests, and blood collection; the All Army Study (AAS),
a representative cross-sectional survey (SAQs) of active duty soldiers, exclusive of those in BCT; the PrePost Deployment Study (PPDS), a multi-wave panel(SAQs, blood collection) of soldiers in three brigade
combat teams surveyed before and after deployment
to Afghanistan; and the Soldier Health Outcomes
Studies, two retrospective case-control studies ofsoldiers who were hospitalized for attempting suicide(SHOS-A) or who died by suicide (SHOS-B).

Affiliations

1. Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress,
Department of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services
University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD,
USA
2. Institute for Social Research, University ofMichigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
3. Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard
Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
4. Departments of Psychiatry and Family &Preventive Medicine, University of California San
Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
5. VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA,
USA
6. Department of Psychology, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA, USA
7. US Army Public Health Command, Aberdeen
Proving Ground, MD, USA
8. National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda,
MD, USA

Results: The HADS includes more than 1.1 billion
administrative records for over 1.6 million soldiers.
Approximately 110,000 soldiers attended Army
STARRS survey sessions at 76 study sites around theworld. The participation rate across the NSS, AAS,
PPDS, SHOS-A, and SHOS-B, was generally 80–95%,
with approximately 43,000 soldiers volunteering togive blood.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: The Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (ArmySTARRS) is a multi-component epidemiological andneurobiological study of suicide and mental healthamong soldiers. It was funded under a five-year cooperative agreement between the U.S. Army, National Institute of Mental Health, and an internationallyrecognized team of researchers from USUHS, theConclusion: Army STARRS is the largest study ofmental health risk and resilience ever conductedamong U.S. Military personnel. It is designed to guidethe development of data-driven methods to reducesuicidal behaviors and improve soldiers’ overall
health and functioning, while rapidly delivering actionable findings to U.S. Army leadership.
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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Precision Medicine for PTSD and Elevated Risk
for Cardiovascular Disease
Authors

sively identify the contributing genetic risk factors
for both conditions.

Harvey B. Pollard 1,2, Chittari Shivakumar 2, JoshuaStarr 1, Catherine Jozwik 1,2, Clifton L. Dalgard 1,2,
Robert J. Ursano 2,3

Method: We have performed a comprehensive
meta-analysis of all published studies testing for the
linkage between candidate genes and likelihood ofrisk for PTSD. We also tested whether any of the
PTSD risk genes were also independent predictorsof cardiovascular disease.

Affiliations

1. Department of Anatomy, Physiology andGenetics
2. Collaborative Health Initiative Research Program(CHIRP)
3. Department of Psychiatry and Center for the
Study of Traumatic stress (CSTS)

Results: Preliminary genetic studies have identified
variants in 55 candidate genes which may be responsible for PTSD. Importantly, 23 (viz, ca. 42%) of
these candidate PTSD genes are also reported to be
independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease,atherosclerosis or hypertension. Preliminary bioinformatics analysis suggests that these PTSD/CVD
risk genes are mostly correlated with inflammation
through the NFκB signaling pathway.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Post-traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) is a frequent consequence of exposure to intense emotional and/or physical trauma.
In addition, the subsequently associated features ofautonomic nervous system dysfunction, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulationand tissue damage are linked to a ca 50% increased
risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The problem
is understanding how the biological links for PTSD
enhance the risk for CVD, and if genetic and biological risk factors drive both conditions concurrently.
Recent studies using conventional genetic analysis
have identified genetic mutations that significantly elevate the risk of PTSD in individual subsets
of PTSD patients, including identical twins. With
the advent of rapid, cost effective Whole Genome
Sequencing (WGS) technology, we are adopting aprecision medicine approach to help unravel the link
between stress and CVD. Our aim is to comprehen-Conclusions: However, to test the generality of thismeta-analysis, WGS profiling through precision
medicine studies are warranted. Analysis of single
nucleotide variants and structural variation for alarge population of individuals with well-defined
clinical and phenotypic data are central approaches
in precision medicine initiatives. Profiling repository samples with linked clinical data from the Army
STARRS study may generate a robust genomic
sequence dataset for identifying novel genetic risk
factors and biological mechanisms in relation to
PTSD etiology.

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Mediation of Deployment Preparedness on the Association
between Augmentee Status and PTSD Symptoms in
Reserve and National Guard Members
Authors

Risk and Resilience Inventory (DRRI), and post-deployment PTSD symptoms, i.e., the PTSD Checklist-Civilian (PCL-C).) Structural equation modeling(SEM) was then used to test whether deployment
preparedness mediates the association between individual augmentee status and PTSD symptoms.

Jing Wang, PhD1, Robert J. Ursano, MD1, Carol Fullerton, PhD1, Holly J. Ramsawh, PhD1, Dale W. Russell, PhD1, Natasha Benfer, BS1, Greg Cohen, MSW2,
Laura Sampson, BA2, Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH2

Affiliations

Results: The SEM provided desirable indices ofgoodness-of-fit, CFI = 0.992, TLI = 0.991, and RMSEA = 0.032. The associations between individual
augmentee status and deployment preparedness(b = -0.173, p = 0.011), and between deployment
preparedness and PTSD symptoms (B = -0.552, p< .001) were both statistically significant, whichindicates mediation by deployment preparedness.
The results of direct, indirect and total effects further
indicated that individual augmentee status had asignificant indirect effect on PTSD symptoms (b =0.096, p = 0.013). The direct influence was not significant (b = 0.056, p = 0.530). And the total influence
was approaching significant (b = 0.152, p = 0.087).

1. Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress,
Uniformed Services University of the Health
Sciences
2. Boston University

Abstract

Background: The Reserve Component (RC) of theUnited States Armed Forces are at higher risk of
post-deployment mental health concerns, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), relative
to their Active Component (AC). We examined the
mediating role of deployment preparedness on theassociation between individual augmentee status(deploying without one’s regular unit) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among RC
enlisted Army and Marine male personnel.

Conclusion: Individual augmentee status is associated with different levels of deployment preparedness. Deployment preparedness is relevant to PTSD
symptoms. Providing more training among those
who deploy without their regular unit could serve asa potential target for future prevention or intervention efforts.

Methods: A nationally representative sample of
2,003 RC personnel was selected in 2010, of which
705 were Army and Marine enlisted males with deployment experiences. Factor analysis was first used
to examine the factor structure of deployment preparedness measure, adapted from the Deployment21

10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Serial FDG-PET Imaging Reveals Functional Changes in the
Amygdala of a Controlled Cortical Impact Small
Animal Model of Traumatic Brain Injury
Authors

Method: Male Sprague Dawley rats (n=40, 250300g) were categorized as injured (n=24), sham withcraniotomy (n=8) or naïve (n=8). Injured animals
were subjected to a mild (n=8), moderate (n=8) or
severe (n=8) controlled cortical impact (CCI) injury.
PET-FDG imaging was performed prior to injury
and at 3-6 hours, 1, 3, 7, 10 and 20 days post-injury.
Whole brain normalization and two-way ANOVA
with repeated measures was used to evaluate groupdifferences for 14 brain regions.

Colin M. Wilson, MA1, Shalini Jaiswal, MS1, Sanjeev
Mathur, MD1, Elizabeth Broussard, MS1, Scott Jones,
PhD1,2, Bernard J. Dardzinski, PhD1,2, Kimberly R.
Byrnes, PhD3, Reed G. Selwyn, PhD4

Affiliations

1. Translational Imaging Core, Center for
Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine,
Bethesda, MD, USA
2. Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Uniformed
Services University, Bethesda, MD, USA
3. Anatomy, Physiology, and Genetics, Uniformed
Services University, Bethesda, MD, USA
4. Radiology, University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque, NM, USA

Results: Significant group differences were observedin the amygdala at several time points post injury.
Decreased FDG uptake was again observed in the
amygdala at day 3. At this time point, FDG-PET
could detect differences between moderate and severe injuries when compared to controls. Differences
between mild and control groups were observed atday 3, but did not reach statistical significance.

Abstract

Background: Previously, cross-sectional analysisof data from our study revealed a significant decrease in FDG uptake, corresponding with significant decreases in ADC and increases in T2 values,
at sub-acute time points following moderate CCI
injury. For the work presented herein, our goal wasto characterize the temporal glucose uptake pattern
following sham, mild, moderate, and severe controlled cortical impact (CCI) TBI using longitudinalmonitoring by microPET/CT.

Conclusion: FDG-PET imaging provides a sensitive, non-invasive method for detecting functionalchanges in the amygdala after TBI. Future work
includes the analysis of left and right hemispheredata and correlation with behavioral and pathological data.

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Analysis of Functional and Structural Changes
after Explosive Blast Injury: A Rat Pilot Study
Authors

this study we analyzed post-blast neuronal function
and structure changes with electrophysiology andhistology, respectively, in order to find correlative
neurophysiologic alterations.

Affiliations

Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to asingle mild explosive-blast. The EEGs were analyzed
with fast Fourier transformation, Hjorth methods
and correlation. VEP was generated by signal averaging and analyzed by correlation and cross-correlation for signal symmetry and phase shift. Neuronal
structural changes were characterized by corticaldendritic spine density. Results of pre-blast andpost-blast, 1 day and 7 days, were compared. Statistical analysis of VEPs were performed using repeatedmeasures ANOVA. Dendritic spine densities werecompared using ANOVA.

John Magnuson, BS1, Peter Haaland, PhD1, Michael
Bodo, MD, PhD3, Fabio Leonessa, MD2, Geoffrey
Ling, MD, PhD2
1. Department of Neuroscience, Uniformed
Services University of the Health Sciences,
Bethesda, MD, USA
2. Department of Neurology, Uniformed Services
University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD,
USA
3. Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver
Spring, MD

Abstract

Background: Electroencephalogram (EEG) and visual evoked potential (VEP) registration are part ofnoninvasive neuro-monitoring methods. The originof the cortical potentials are due to excitatory or
inhibitory postsynaptic potentials developed by thecell body and large dendrites of pyramidal neurons.
Alteration in dendritic spine densities have been
identified in controlled cortical impact and fluid
percussion injury models.

Results: Preliminary results comparing left and righthemisphere VEPs for synchronicity while accounting for lag, show mean cross-correlation changes.
Dendritic spine density decrease in cortical layer II/
III. Pathology and EEG analysis are in progress.
Conclusion: Brain function generates electrical
waveforms with various frequency and voltage. In
this study we analyzed EEG background and VEP
for functional changes and characterized dendritic
spine density as well as gross pathology for structural changes post-blast exposure. Preliminary data
indicate a decrease in cortical dendritic spines andincreased VEP latencies at 1d post-blast exposure.

Explosive-blast traumatic brain injury has been
associated with neuro-psychiatric, EEG and evoked
potential alterations; Alterations in EEG phase synchronization as well as irregular slow wave activity
have been identified.
Our previous studies have demonstrated damage
to the rat visual pathway after explosive blast. In

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Continuing Education Credit
PhysiciansSocial Workers

This live activity, Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference on April 21, 2015 has been reviewed and isacceptable for up to 5.25 prescribed credits by theAmerican Academy of Family Physicians. Physicians
should claim only the credit commensurate with theextent of their participation in the activity.

The Department of Social Work, Walter Reed
National Military Medical Center, maintains responsibility for this program and has been granted
automatic authorization from the Maryland Boardof Social Work Examiners to offer 5 category I CEU
credits for this professional training activity. Twohours of CEU credit will be given for the morning
session and 3 hours of CEU credit will be given for
the afternoon session. No credit will be provided
for partial session attendance. On the day of theconference, participants must submit an evaluation
sheet for each session to receive CE credit and document their attendance for each session via sign-in
and out rosters.

Psychologists

The Department of Psychology, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, is approved by theAmerican Psychological Association to sponsor
continuing education for psychologists. The Department of Psychology, Walter Reed National Military
Medical Center maintains responsibility for thisprogram and its contents. Five hours of CE credit
will be given for full attendance at the workshop.
Two hours of CE credit will be given for the morning session and 3 hours of CE credit will be given
for the afternoon session. No credit will be provided
for partial session attendance. On the day of theconference, participants must submit an evaluation
sheet for each session to receive CE credit and document their attendance for each session via sign-in
and out rosters.

NursesWe regret we are unable to offer CEUs for nurses in2015.

Psychologists and Social Workers attending the conference will be
required to complete an evaluation form in order to receive
continuing education credit.
Questions? Please visit the Continuing Education tablelocated in the lobby.

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Notes

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Notes

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Notes

CSTS has a new, content-rich website.
Please visit us at www.CSTSonline.org
Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook and receive notices when we add content.
www.twitter.com/CSTS_USU | www.facebook.com/USU.CSTS

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10th Annual Amygdala, Stress and PTSD Conference: Of Mice and Man

Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress
Department of Psychiatry
Uniformed Services University
4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, MD 20814
contact@amygdalaptsdconference.org
www.CSTSonline.org
www.facebook.com/USU.CSTS
www.twitter.com/CSTS_USU
28