Post-traumatic stress disorder affects fucose-α(1-2)-glycans in the human brain: preliminary findings of neuro deregulation using in vivo two-dimensional neuro MR spectroscopy.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is triggered by experiencing terrifying event(s) for which there is currently no objective test for a definitive diagnosis. We report a pilot study where two-dimensional (2D) neuro magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), collected at 3 T in a clinical scanner with a 64-channel head coil, identifies neuro deregulation in the PTSD cohort. The control subjects (n = 10) were compared with PTSD participants with minimal co-morbidities (n = 10). The 2D MRS identified statistically significant increases in the total spectral region containing both free substrate fucose and fucosylated glycans of 31% (P = 0.0013), two of multiple fucosylated glycans (Fuc IV and VI) were elevated by 48% (P = 0.002), and 41% (P = 0.02), respectively, imidazole was increased by 12% (P = 0.002), and lipid saturation was increased by 12.5% (P = 0.009). This is the first evidence of fucosylated glycans, reported in animals to be involved in learning and memory, to be affected in humans with PTSD.

Author Correction: Post-traumatic stress disorder affects fucose-α(1-2)-glycans in the human brain: preliminary findings of neuro deregulation using in vivo two-dimensional neuro MR spectroscopy.

The original article contained errors in the Fig. 1 caption. The incorrect sentence, "The region highlighted by the white box is expanded in Fig. 3" was corrected to, "The region highlighted by the white box is expanded in Fig. 2." This has been corrected in the HTML and PDF of the article.