**5. Conclusion**

The abnormal density of cerebral regions in VoR with PTSD supports the hypothesis that PTSD is associated with structural plastic changes to brain. The results suggest that the medial frontal cortex, pre-central cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, post-central cortex, inferior parietal lobule, and cerebellum are likely to contribute to the neural mechanisms underlying PTSD. These findings suggest that the pre-central cortex of PTSD may be involved in the neural basis of motor and linguistic PTSD symptomatology; the middle temporal gyrus and fusiform cortex may be implicated in the dysfunction of memory and dissociative symptoms in PTSD; the posterior cingulate cortex may underlie pathological symptoms provoked by traumatic reminders of PTSD; the inferior parietal lobule of PTSD might play an important role in the dysfunction of memory, recognition, and deductive reasoning; and the cerebellum may contribute to the functional compensation for the pathological changes in the neuro-circuitry of PTSD. These findings may lead to a better understanding of the basis of brain structure for clinical symptoms with VoR of PTSD. Also, they can be benefit to the researches of PTSD treatment.

Future studies call for exploring experiences of rape and associated PTSD symptomatology by using case-control or longitudinal designs, investigating the effect of the specific social and cultural meanings of rape, examining the impact on individuals' posttraumatic response and coping ability, and looking into the relation between brain GMD and PTSD symptoms. In addition, the findings of this study need to be confirmed in the future and in different subgroups of PTSD patients.
