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Plasma gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in trauma-exposed women: a preliminary report

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Abstract

Rationale

Aberrations in the stress response are associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom development, maintenance, and severity. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the brain’s primary inhibitory neurotransmitter, may play a key role in stress recovery.

Objectives

In this preliminary study, we examined whether plasma GABA levels differed between women with PTSD and trauma-exposed healthy controls.

Methods

Thirty participants provided plasma samples during two phases of the menstrual cycle: the early follicular phase and the mid-luteal phase. During each phase, blood was drawn after 45 min of rest, and after mild and moderately stressful psychophysiological tasks. Plasma GABA levels were measured using HPLC-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

Results

In analyses using PTSD diagnosis as a categorical group variable, women with and without a diagnosis of PTSD did not differ in plasma GABA levels (ps > .18). However, in analyses examining PTSD symptom severity as a continuous variable, there was a trend-level positive association between more severe PTSD symptoms and higher plasma GABA levels across the four blood draws (p = .06). In analyses examining DSM-IV PTSD symptom clusters separately, dysphoria symptoms were positively and significantly associated with plasma GABA levels (p = .03). Similarly, there was a trend-level positive association between avoidance cluster symptoms and plasma GABA levels (p = .06). Plasma GABA levels were not modulated by experimentally induced stress or menstrual cycle phase.

Conclusions

Dysregulation in GABA may be a neurobiological marker and/or potential treatment target for women with PTSD symptom profiles characterized by prominent dysphoria and avoidance cluster symptoms.

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Notes

  1. To explore the potential contribution of depression to study results, we examined differences in baseline GABA levels between individuals with and without a comorbid depressive disorder diagnosis. In the full sample (n = 30) of PTSD and TC participants, individuals with and without a depressive disorder did not differ significantly in their baseline GABA levels during either the eFP, t (5.18) = 1.11, p = .31, or the mLP, t (27) = .66, p = .52, menstrual cycle phase. Similarly, when PTSD participants with depression (n = 6) were compared to PTSD participants without depression (n = 9), no differences in baseline GABA levels were observed (eFP: t (13) = .70, p = .50; mLP: t (11) = 1.04, p = .32).

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Funding

Support for this work was provided by a VA Career Development Award (PI: Pineles) from the Clinical Sciences R&D Service, Department of Veterans Affairs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology & Philosophy, Framingham State University, 100 State Street, Framingham, MA, 01701, USA

    Kimberly A. Arditte Hall

  2. National Center for PTSD Women’s Health Sciences Division at VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, 02130, USA

    Sumaiya E. DeLane, Rachel Shor, Ann M. Rasmusson & Suzanne L. Pineles

  3. Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06519, USA

    George M. Anderson

  4. VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, 02130, USA

    Tiffany R. Lago

  5. MEDKEC Keck Biotechnology Services, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06519, USA

    Weiwei Wang

  6. Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02118, USA

    Ann M. Rasmusson & Suzanne L. Pineles

Authors
  1. Kimberly A. Arditte Hall
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  2. Sumaiya E. DeLane
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  3. George M. Anderson
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  7. Ann M. Rasmusson
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  8. Suzanne L. Pineles
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Correspondence to Kimberly A. Arditte Hall.

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Conflict of interest

Dr. Rasmusson reports receiving in-kind travel compensation during the past 3 years as a scientific consultant to Cohen Veterans Bioscience, a non-profit organization. Other authors report no conflicts of interest related to this study.

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Arditte Hall, K.A., DeLane, S.E., Anderson, G.M. et al. Plasma gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in trauma-exposed women: a preliminary report. Psychopharmacology 238, 1541–1552 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-021-05785-z

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