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Altered amygdala connectivity in urban youth exposed to trauma.

ABSTRACT: Early life trauma exposure represents a potent risk factor for the development of mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Moreover, deleterious consequences of trauma are exacerbated in youth living in impoverished, urban environments. A priori probability maps were used to examine resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of the amygdala in 21 trauma-exposed, and 21 age- and sex-matched urban children and adolescents (youth) without histories of trauma. Intrinsic FC analyses focused on amygdala-medial prefrontal circuitry, a key emotion regulatory pathway in the brain. We discovered reduced negative amygdala-subgenual cingulate connectivity in trauma-exposed youth. Differences between groups were also identified in anterior insula and dorsal anterior cingulate to amygdala connectivity. Overall, results suggest a model in which urban-dwelling trauma-exposed youth lack negative prefrontal to amygdala connectivity that may be critical for regulation of emotional responses. Functional changes in amygdala circuitry might reflect the biological embedding of stress reactivity in early life and mediate enhanced vulnerability to stress-related psychopathology.

SUBMITTER: Thomason ME

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4631140 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Altered amygdala connectivity in urban youth exposed to trauma.

Thomason Moriah E ME Marusak Hilary A HA Tocco Maria A MA Vila Angela M AM McGarragle Olivia O Rosenberg David R DR

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 20150402 11

Early life trauma exposure represents a potent risk factor for the development of mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Moreover, deleterious consequences of trauma are exacerbated in youth living in impoverished, urban environments. A priori probability maps were used to examine resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of the amygdala in 21 trauma-exposed, and 21 age- and sex-matched urban children and adolescents (youth) without histories of trauma. ...[more]

PMID: 25836993

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Stunting affects more than 161 million children worldwide and can compromise cognitive development beginning early in childhood. There is a paucity of research using neuroimaging tools in conjunction with sensitive behavioral assays in low-income settings, which has hindered researchers' ability to explain how stunting impacts brain and behavioral development. We employed high-density EEG to examine associations among children's physical growth, brain functional connectivity (FC), and cognitive development. METHODS:We recruited participants from an urban impoverished neighborhood in Dhaka, Bangladesh. One infant cohort consisted of 92 infants whose height (length) was measured at 3, 4.5, and 6?months; EEG data were collected at 6?months; and cognitive outcomes were assessed using the Mullen Scales of Early Learning at 27?months. A second, older cohort consisted of 118 children whose height was measured at 24, 30, and 36?months; EEG data were collected at 36?months; and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) scores were assessed at 48?months. Height-for-age (HAZ) z-scores were calculated based on the World Health Organization standard. EEG FC in different frequency bands was calculated in the cortical source space. Linear regression and longitudinal path analysis were conducted to test the associations between variables, as well as the indirect effect of child growth on cognitive outcomes via brain FC. RESULTS:In the older cohort, we found that HAZ was negatively related to brain FC in the theta and beta frequency bands, which in turn was negatively related to children's IQ score at 48?months. Longitudinal path analysis showed an indirect effect of HAZ on children's IQ via brain FC in both the theta and beta bands. There were no associations between HAZ and brain FC or cognitive outcomes in the infant cohort. CONCLUSIONS:The association observed between child growth and brain FC may reflect a broad deleterious effect of malnutrition on children's brain development. The mediation effect of FC on the relation between child growth and later IQ provides the first evidence suggesting that brain FC may serve as a neural pathway by which biological adversity impacts cognitive development.

Dataset Information

Altered amygdala connectivity in urban youth exposed to trauma.

Publications

Altered amygdala connectivity in urban youth exposed to trauma.

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