Peer-Reviewed Publication
Mol Psychiatry2026July 2, 2026Journal Article
Shared and specific associations of amygdala nuclei volumes with PTSD symptom domains and childhood trauma: An ENIGMA-PGC PTSD mega-analysis.
Mary S Mufford1,2, Dennis van der Meer3,4, C Lexi Baird5,6,7, Delin Sun6,8, Kevin S LaBar9, Raj Ramesar10, Ahmed Hussain5,6, Chadi G Abdallah11,12, Elpiniki Andrew13, Christopher L Averill11,14, Justin T Baker15,16,17, Lee A Baugh18,19,20, Jennifer U Blackford21, Jessica Bomyea22,23, Richard A Bryant24,25, Christopher R K Ching26, Kyle Choi27, Andrew S Cotton28, Judith K Daniels29,30, Nicholas D Davenport31,32, Richard J Davidson33,34,35, Michael D De Bellis5,8, Emily L Dennis36,37, Maria Densmore38, Terri A deRoon-Cassini39,40, Seth G Disner32,41, Stefan du Plessis42,43, Amit Etkin44,45, Negar Fani46, Kelene A Fercho47, Jacklynn Fitzgerald48, Elbert Geuze49,50, Evan M Gordon51, Daniel W Grupe33, Ilan Harpaz-Rotem12,52,53, Courtney C Russel5,6, Julia I Herzog54, David Hofmann55, Anna R Hudson56, Jonathan Ipser57, Neda Jahanshad26, Tanja Jovanovic58, Milissa L Kaufman59,60, Saskia B J Koch61,62, Inga K Koerte63,64, Mayuresh S Korgaonkar65,66, John H Krystal52, Ruth Lanius38,67, Christine Larson68, Lauren A M Lebois59,69, Ifat Levy53,70,71, Gen Li72,73, Israel Liberzon74, Mark W Logue75,76,77, Vincent A Magnotta78, Antje Manthey79, Adi Maron-Katz45, Geoffrey May74,80,81,82, Katie A McLaughlin83,84, Sven C Mueller56, Laura Nawijn61,85, Steven M Nelson86, Yuval Neria87,88, Richard W J Neufeld38,67, Jack B Nitschke34, Erin N O'Leary89, Bunmi O Olatunji90, Miranda Olff91,92, Elizabeth A Olson59,93, Matthew Peverill34, K Luan Phan94, Evelyn Pineda95, Kerry J Ressler96, Isabelle M Rosso59,93, Lauren E Salminen26, Kelly Meltzer97, Christian Schmahl54, Soraya Seedat43, Caitlin A Sharp95, Martha E Shenton63,98, Anika Sierk99, Raluca M Simons100, Jeffrey S Simons20,100, Scott R Sponheim32,101, Murray B Stein102,103, Jennifer S Stevens46, Thomas Straube55, Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez95, Jean Théberge38, Sophia I Thomopolous26, Nic J A van der Wee104,105, Steven J A van der Werff104,105, Theo G M van Erp106,107, Sanne J H van Rooij46, Mirjam van Zuiden61,108, Dick J Veltman61, Robert R J M Vermeiren109, Henrik Walter110,111, Xin Wang112, Li Wang72,73, Hong Xie112, Xi Zhu113, Ye Zhu72,73, Paul M Thompson26, Ole A Andreassen3,114, Dan J Stein57, Rajendra A Morey5,6, Shareefa Dalvie57,10
1Division of Human Genetics, School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, National Health Laboratory Service, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. mary.mufford@wits.ac.za.
2South African Medical Research Council Unit on Risk & Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. mary.mufford@wits.ac.za.
3Centre for Precision Psychiatry, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
4School of Mental Health and Neuroscience, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.
5Brain Imaging Analysis Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
6Department of Veteran Affairs Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
7Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
8Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
9Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
10South African Medical Research Council Genomic and Precision Medicine Research Unit, Division of Human Genetics, Department of Pathology, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
11Department of Psychiatry, Baylor college of medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
12Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
13Department of Psychology, University of Sydney, Westmead, NSW, Australia.
14Core for Advanced MRI (CAMRI), Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
15Institute for Technology in Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
16Massachusetts General Brigham Department of Psychiatry, Boston, MA, USA.
17Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
18Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, USA.
19Center for Brain and Behavior Research, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, USA.
20Sioux Falls VA Health Care System, Sioux Falls, SD, USA.
21Munroe-Meyer Institute, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
22Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
23VA San Diego Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health, San Diego, CA, USA.
24School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
25Black Dog Institute, Sydney, Australia.
26Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, CA, USA.
27Health Services Research Center, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
28Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
29Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
30Traumacentrum Beilen, GGZ Drenthe, Beilen, Netherlands.
31Research, Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
32Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
33Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
34Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
35Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
36Department of Neurology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
37George E. Wahlen Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
38Department of Psychiatry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
39Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
40Comprehensive Injury Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
41Mental Health Integrated Care Community, Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
42Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.
43South African Medical Research Council on the Genomics of Brain Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.
44Alto Neuroscience, Inc, Mountain View, CA, USA.
45Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
46Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
47Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, D.C., USA.
48Department of Psychology, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
49Brain Research & Innovation Centre, Ministry of Defence, Utrecht, Netherlands.
50Department of Psychiatry, Utrecht University Medical Center, Utrecht, Netherlands.
51Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
52Division of Clinical Neuroscience, National Center for PTSD, West Haven, CT, USA.
53Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
54Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
55Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
56Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
57South African Medical Research Council Unit on Risk & Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
58Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA.
59Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
60Division of Women's Mental Health, McLean Hospital, Harvard University, Belmont, MA, USA.
61Department of Psychiatry, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
62Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
63Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
64Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany.
65Brain Dynamics Centre, Westmead Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
66Discipline of Psychiatry, Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
67Department of Neuroscience, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
68Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
69Division of Depression and Anxiety Disorders, McLean Hospital, Harvard University, Belmont, MA, USA.
70Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
71Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
72Laboratory for Traumatic Stress Studies, State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Science and Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
73Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
74Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science. Texas A&M University College of Medicine, College Station, TX, USA.
75National Center for PTSD: Behavioral Sciences Division, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA.
76Department of Psychiatry, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
77Department of Medicine: Biomedical Genetics, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
78Department of Radiology, Psychiatry, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
79Health and Medical University Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
80Veterans Integrated Service Network-17 Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans, Waco, TX, USA.
81Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA.
82Center for Vital Longevity, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
83Ballmer Institute for Children's Behavioral Health, University of Oregon, Portland, OR, USA.
84Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
85Department of Clinical Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.
86Department of Pediatrics and Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
87Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
88New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
89Department of Psychiatry, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA.
90Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
91Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
92ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre, Diemen, Netherlands.
93Center for Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Research, McLean Hospital, Harvard University, Belmont, MA, USA.
94Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
95Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.
96Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA.
97Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
98Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
99Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Charité, Berlin, Germany.
100Department of Psychology, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, USA.
101Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
102Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
103School of Public Health, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
104Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
105Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, Netherlands.
106Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
107Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
108Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
109Department of Psychiatry & Psychology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
110Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.
111German Center for Mental Health, Partner Site Berlin-Potsdam, Berlin, Germany.
112Department of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA.
113Department of Bioengineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA.
114KG Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Abstract
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric condition that may develop after trauma exposure. PTSD is characterized by considerable clinical heterogeneity. The amygdala's key role in fear conditioning makes it an important focus for investigating the neurobiology of PTSD. However, associations between amygdala volume and PTSD have been inconsistent. The amygdala consists of functionally…
Create a free account to keep reading
Free members get 10 full research views every month across publications, clinical trials, FDA clearances, adverse events, and NIH grants. No credit card required.
Want unlimited research access? See Pro plans