Background: A clinical characteristic of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is persistently elevated fear responses to stimuli associated with the traumatic event. The objective herein is to determine whether extinction of fear responses is impaired in PTSD and whether such impairment is related to dysfunctional activation of brain regions known to be involved in fear extinction, viz., amygdala, hippocampus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). Methods: Sixteen individuals diagnosed with PTSD and 15 trauma-exposed non-PTSD controls (TENCs) underwent a two-day fear conditioning and extinction protocol in a 3T fMRI scanner. Conditioning and extinction training were conducted on day 1. Extinction recall (or extinction memory) test was conducted on day 2 (extinguished conditioned stimuli presented in the absence of shock). Skin conductance response (SCR) was scored throughout the experiment as an index of the conditioned response. Results: SCR data revealed no significant differences between groups during acquisition and extinction of conditioned fear on day 1. On day 2, however, PTSD subjects showed impaired recall of extinction memory. Analysis of fMRI data showed greater amygdala activation in the PTSD group during day 1 extinction learning. During extinction recall, lesser activation in hippocampus and vmPFC, and greater activation in dACC, was observed in the PTSD group. The magnitude of extinction memory across all subjects was correlated with activation of hippocampus and vmPFC during extinction recall testing. Conclusions: These findings support the hypothesis that fear extinction is impaired in PTSD. They further suggest that dysfunctional activation in brain structures that mediate fear extinction learning, and especially its recall, underlie this impairment.

In animals, exposure to severe stress can damage the hippocampus. Recent human studies show smaller hippocampal volume in individuals with the stress-related psychiatric condition posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Does this represent the neurotoxic effect of trauma, or is smaller hippocampal volume a pre-existing condition that renders the brain more vulnerable to the development of pathological stress responses? In monozygotic twins discordant for trauma exposure, we found evidence that smaller hippocampi indeed constitute a risk factor for the development of stress-related psychopathology. Disorder severity in PTSD patients who were exposed to trauma was negatively correlated with the hippocampal volume of both the patients and the patients' trauma-unexposed identical co-twin. Furthermore, severe PTSD twin pairs-both the trauma-exposed and unexposed members-had significantly smaller hippocampi than non-PTSD pairs.Animal research has provided compelling evidence that exposure to severe and chronic stress can damage the hippocampal formation 1,2 , a region best known for its role in declarative memory 3,4 . Such studies point to a neurotoxic role for corticosteroids, elevated levels of which cause atrophy and/or cell death in hippocampal neurons. This has led to the proposal that a similar process may occur in humans, and thereby mediate specific stressrelated disease processes. Of particular relevance is the psychiatric condition of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a constellation of disabling behavioral and emotional symptoms that occur in some individuals who experience severe psychological trauma such as combat, sexual abuse or natural disaster. Indeed, several structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies report smaller hippocampal volume in patients diagnosed with chronic, unremitting forms of PTSD [5][6][7][8] . These results have generated intense interest Correspondence should be addressed to M.W.G. (mark.gilbertson@med.va.gov). Note: Supplementary information is available on the Nature Neuroscience website. Competing interests statementThe authors declare that they have no competing financial interests. regarding a potential pathogenesis for this disorder, and they raise the possibility that psychological trauma may in fact induce neurological damage in humans. NIH Public AccessControversy exists, however, over the nature and source of smaller hippocampal volume in PTSD 9-12 . The fundamental question at the heart of this controversy is whether volumetric differences represent the consequence of traumatic exposure or a pre-existing trait that predisposes people to pathological stress reactions to a traumatic event. This latter formulation is consistent with the fact that only some individuals exposed to trauma go on to develop PTSD 13,14 . The National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study 13 , for example, has estimated the prevalence of PTSD in Vietnam combat veterans to be 30.6%. Furthermore, animal research shows that inherited variations in hippocampal size can influence behav...