Association between lower P300 amplitude and smaller anterior cingulate cortex volume in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder: a study of victims of Tokyo subway sarin attack

Previous investigations of auditory P300 event-related potentials have provided electrophysiological evidence for attentional problems in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The present study sought to evaluate the relationship between P300 deficits and underlying brain morphological abnormalities in never-treated, comorbidity-free patients with PTSD following the Tokyo subway sarin attack. Out of 47 victims recruited, 8 victims with PTSD and 13 victims without PTSD were identified. Correlational analyses were performed between auditory P300 amplitude at Pz electrode site elicited in an oddball task and anterior cingulate gray matter volume that was shown to be reduced in our previous study using voxel-based morphometry on magnetic resonance imaging. Victims with PTSD showed significantly lower amplitudes of P300 compared with victims without PTSD, and the lower P300 amplitudes at Pz were significantly associated with higher avoidance/numbing scores in the PTSD group. Furthermore, in the PTSD group only, the P300 amplitudes showed a trend toward significant positive correlation with voxel densities of the anterior cingulate cortex gray matter. These results provide the first evidence that electrophysiological deficits of controlled attention observed in patients with PTSD may be linked to underlying brain morphological abnormalities.