A new study published in Journal of Affective Disorders It provides the first evidence that creatine levels in a specific brain region may play a role in recovery from trauma. The study, conducted with a select group of US veterans, found that higher levels of creatine were associated with better recovery from stress after traumatic experiences.
The research is motivated by a critical interest in understanding why some individuals recover from traumatic events while others develop long-lasting psychological conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Traditional research has often focused on the psychological and environmental factors that contribute to PTSD, but there is growing interest in the biological and neurochemical mechanisms that may protect individuals from the long-term consequences of trauma.
PTSD is a mental health disorder that develops after a person experiences or witnesses a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, serious accident, act of terrorism, war/war, rape, or other violent personal attack.
People with PTSD may have intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their experiences that persist long after the trauma has ended. You can relive the event with flashbacks or hallucinations; sadness, fear or anger; And you feel isolated or isolated from other people.
PTSD is characterized by symptoms that disrupt daily activities, and these symptoms are categorized into: re-experiencing the trauma, avoidance of reminders of the trauma, negative changes in thinking and emotions, and changes in physical and emotional responses.
Creatine is an organic compound that plays an important role in energy production in the cells. It mainly helps to maintain energy supply in muscle and brain tissues.
Creatine allows the regeneration of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the main energy carrier in cells, which is essential for maintaining cellular function and integrity. The researchers hypothesized that the amount of creatine in the brain could affect an individual’s ability to recover from trauma by affecting the energy supply in critical brain regions.
The researchers performed brain scans on a group of 25 American veterans recruited from the Intermountain West region of the United States to explore the relationship between brain creatine concentration and recovery from traumatic stress.
After enrollment, participants completed a series of questionnaires to collect data on demographics, mental health status, and history of traumatic events. For the neuroimaging department, researchers use 1H-Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (1H-MRS), a special type of MRI that can measure the concentration of brain chemicals such as creatine in specific brain regions. The focus was on the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a key area involved in emotional regulation and stress response.
The researchers reported that veterans with higher levels of creatine in the ACC had lower stress levels over time after their traumatic event. This suggests that creatine may play a role in the brain’s recovery from trauma.
Interestingly, the researchers found no significant correlation between creatine levels and the number of traumatic events or current PTSD symptom severity as measured by the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5. This suggests that while creatine may influence post-traumatic recovery, it is not related to the initial response to trauma or the severity of ongoing symptoms in PTSD.
Additionally, the researchers examined whether creatinine levels differed between those who were on medication (such as antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs) and those who were not. They found no significant difference in creatine levels based on drug use, suggesting that the effect of creatine on stress recovery was not confounded by these drugs.
However, the study has several limitations. The sample size was relatively small, and the participants were mostly male veterans, which may limit the generalizability of the findings. Also, the study relied on participants’ retrospective reports of their anxiety levels, which may be subject to bias.
Future research could include larger, more diverse populations and employ longitudinal studies to track changes in creatine levels over time after traumatic events. Expanding research on more severe PTSD symptoms to clinical samples may provide deeper insights.
“Although limited, the present study provides compelling initial evidence that CR concentration in the ACC is associated with recovery from traumatic life events. If replicated in large samples, [creatine levels] It may show promise as a new intervention target for improving mental health outcomes following exposure to traumatic life events,” the researchers concluded.
The study “Creatine concentration in the anterior cingulate cortex is associated with greater recovery from traumatic events: preliminary evidence from a sample of US veterans.” by James R. Yancey, Jeong Ma, Punita Subramaniam, Chelsea N. Carson, Erin C. McGlad, Deborah A. Urgelun-Todd, and Perry F. Wrote Renshaw.