scholarly journals Reported maternal childhood maltreatment experiences, amygdala activation and functional connectivity to infant cry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aviva K Olsavsky ◽  
Joel Stoddard ◽  
Andrew Erhart ◽  
Rebekah Tribble ◽  
Pilyoung Kim
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Child Outcomes ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Infant Cry ◽  
Amygdala Activation ◽  
Psychophysiological Interaction ◽  
Task Conditions ◽  
Cue Processing ◽  
Postpartum Mothers

Abstract Maternal childhood maltreatment experiences (CMEs) may influence responses to infants and affect child outcomes. We examined associations between CME and mothers’ neural responses and functional connectivity to infant distress. We hypothesized that mothers with greater CME would exhibit higher amygdala reactivity and amygdala–supplementary motor area (SMA) functional connectivity to own infant’s cries. Postpartum mothers (N = 57) assessed for CME completed an functional magnetic resonance imaging task with cry and white-noise stimuli. Amygdala region-of-interest and psychophysiological interaction analyses were performed. Our models tested associations of CME with activation and connectivity during task conditions (own/other and cry/noise). Exploratory analyses with parenting behaviors were performed. Mothers with higher CME exhibited higher amygdala activation to own baby’s cries vs other stimuli (F1,392 = 6.9, P < 0.01, N = 57) and higher differential connectivity to cry vs noise between amygdala and SMA (F1,165 = 22.3, P < 0.001). Exploratory analyses revealed positive associations between both amygdala activation and connectivity and maternal non-intrusiveness (Ps < 0.05). Increased amygdala activation to own infant’s cry and higher amygdala–SMA functional connectivity suggest motor responses to baby’s distress. These findings were associated with less intrusive maternal behaviors. Follow-up studies might replicate these findings, add more granular parenting assessments and explore how cue processing leads to a motivated maternal approach in clinical populations.

scholarly journals The Effects of Functionally Guided, Connectivity-Based rTMS on Amygdala Activation

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 494
Author(s):  
Lysianne Beynel ◽  
Ethan Campbell ◽  
Maria Naclerio ◽  
Jeffrey T. Galla ◽  
Angikar Ghosal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Interaction Analysis ◽  
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Therapeutic Effects ◽  
Subcortical Structures ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
Amygdala Activation ◽  
Psychophysiological Interaction

While repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is widely used to treat psychiatric disorders, innovations are needed to improve its efficacy. An important limitation is that while psychiatric disorders are associated with fronto-limbic dysregulation, rTMS does not have sufficient depth penetration to modulate affected subcortical structures. Recent advances in task-related functional connectivity provide a means to better link superficial and deeper cortical sources with the possibility of increasing fronto-limbic modulation to induce stronger therapeutic effects. The objective of this pilot study was to test whether task-related, connectivity-based rTMS could modulate amygdala activation through its connectivity with the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). fMRI was collected to identify a node in the mPFC showing the strongest connectivity with the amygdala, as defined by psychophysiological interaction analysis. To promote Hebbian-like plasticity, and potentially stronger modulation, 5 Hz rTMS was applied while participants viewed frightening video-clips that engaged the fronto-limbic network. Significant increases in both the mPFC and amygdala were found for active rTMS compared to sham, offering promising preliminary evidence that functional connectivity-based targeting may provide a useful approach to treat network dysregulation. Further research is needed to better understand connectivity influences on rTMS effects to leverage this information to improve therapeutic applications.

scholarly journals Developmental outcomes of early adverse care on amygdala functional connectivity in nonhuman primates

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 1579-1596
Author(s):  
Elyse L. Morin ◽  
Brittany R. Howell ◽  
Eric Feczko ◽  
Eric Earl ◽  
Melanie Pincus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Adverse Experience ◽  
Juvenile Period ◽  
Macaque Model ◽  
Prenatal Factors ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Mri

AbstractDespite the strong link between childhood maltreatment and psychopathology, the underlying neurodevelopmental mechanisms are poorly understood and difficult to disentangle from heritable and prenatal factors. This study used a translational macaque model of infant maltreatment in which the adverse experience occurs in the first months of life, during intense maturation of amygdala circuits important for stress and emotional regulation. Thus, we examined the developmental impact of maltreatment on amygdala functional connectivity (FC) longitudinally, from infancy through the juvenile period. Using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) we performed amygdala–prefrontal cortex (PFC) region-of-interest and exploratory whole-brain amygdala FC analyses. The latter showed (a) developmental increases in amygdala FC with many regions, likely supporting increased processing of socioemotional-relevant stimuli with age; and (b) maltreatment effects on amygdala coupling with arousal and stress brain regions (locus coeruleus, laterodorsal tegmental area) that emerged with age. Maltreated juveniles showed weaker FC than controls, which was negatively associated with infant hair cortisol concentrations. Findings from the region-of-interest analysis also showed weaker amygdala FC with PFC regions in maltreated animals than controls since infancy, whereas bilateral amygdala FC was stronger in maltreated animals. These effects on amygdala FC development may underlie the poor behavioral outcomes associated with this adverse experience.

scholarly journals Dynamic Alterations in Neural Networks Supporting Aversive Learning in Children Exposed to Trauma: Neural Mechanisms Underlying Psychopathology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie N. DeCross ◽  
Kelly Sambrook ◽  
Margaret Sheridan ◽  
Nim Tottenham ◽  
Katie A McLaughlin
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Parahippocampal Gyrus ◽  
Functional Coupling ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Aversive Learning ◽  
Frontal Pole

Altered aversive learning represents a potential mechanism through which childhood trauma (CT) might influence risk for psychopathology. This study examines the temporal dynamics of neural activation and patterns of functional connectivity during aversive learning in children with and without CT, and evaluates whether these neural patterns mediate the association of CT with psychopathology in a longitudinal design. 147 children (aged 8-16 years, 77 with CT) completed a fear conditioning procedure during an fMRI scan. Dynamic patterns of neural activation were examined in whole-brain and region-of-interest analyses; functional connectivity was assessed with generalized psychophysiological interaction analyses. We evaluated whether the associations between CT and psychopathology symptoms at baseline and two-year follow-up were mediated by neural activation and connectivity during aversive learning. Children exposed to trauma displayed blunted patterns of neural activation over time during CS+>CS- in right amygdala and during CS->CS+ in right hippocampus and frontal pole. Additionally, during CS+>CS-, CT was associated with elevated functional connectivity of right amygdala with fronto-parietal regions and reduced connectivity with hippocampus, posterior parahippocampal gyrus, and posterior cingulate cortex. The longitudinal association between CT and later externalizing symptoms was mediated by blunted activation in right amygdala and insula. Reduced amygdala-hippocampal connectivity mediated the association of CT with transdiagnostic anxiety symptoms. CT is associated with poor threat-safety discrimination and altered functional coupling between salience and default mode network regions during aversive learning. These altered neural dynamics during learning may be key mechanisms linking CT with internalizing and externalizing psychopathology.

scholarly journals Altered fear processing in adolescents with a history of severe childhood maltreatment: an fMRI study

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
pp. 1092-1101 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Hart ◽  
L. Lim ◽  
M. A. Mehta ◽  
A. Simmons ◽  
K. A. H. Mirza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Emotion Processing ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
History Of ◽  
Psychiatric Conditions

AbstractBackgroundChildren with a history of maltreatment suffer from altered emotion processing but the neural basis of this phenomenon is unknown. This pioneering functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated the effects of severe childhood maltreatment on emotion processing while controlling for psychiatric conditions, medication and substance abuse.MethodTwenty medication-naive, substance abuse-free adolescents with a history of childhood abuse, 20 psychiatric control adolescents matched on psychiatric diagnoses but with no maltreatment and 27 healthy controls underwent a fMRI emotion discrimination task comprising fearful, angry, sad happy and neutral dynamic facial expressions.ResultsMaltreated participants responded faster to fearful expressions and demonstrated hyper-activation compared to healthy controls of classical fear-processing regions of ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex, which survived at a more lenient threshold relative to psychiatric controls. Functional connectivity analysis, furthermore, demonstrated reduced connectivity between left vmPFC and insula for fear in maltreated participants compared to both healthy and psychiatric controls.ConclusionsThe findings show that people who have experienced childhood maltreatment have enhanced fear perception, both at the behavioural and neurofunctional levels, associated with enhanced fear-related ventromedial fronto-cingulate activation and altered functional connectivity with associated limbic regions. Furthermore, the connectivity adaptations were specific to the maltreatment rather than to the developing psychiatric conditions, whilst the functional changes were only evident at trend level when compared to psychiatric controls, suggesting a continuum. The neurofunctional hypersensitivity of fear-processing networks may be due to childhood over-exposure to fear in people who have been abused.

scholarly journals Alterations of the Brain Microstructure and Corresponding Functional Connectivity in Early-Blind Adolescents

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhifeng Zhou ◽  
Jinping Xu ◽  
Leilei Shi ◽  
Xia Liu ◽  
Fen Hou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Mean Diffusivity ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Visual Deprivation ◽  
Light Perception ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Structural Reorganization ◽  
Brain Microstructure ◽  
The Brain

Although evidence from studies on blind adults indicates that visual deprivation early in life leads to structural and functional disruption and reorganization of the brain, whether young blind people show similar patterns remains unknown. Therefore, this study is aimed at exploring the structural and functional alterations of the brain of early-blind adolescents (EBAs) compared to normal-sighted controls (NSCs) and investigating the effects of residual light perception on brain microstructure and function in EBAs. We obtained magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from 23 EBAs (8 with residual light perception (LPs), 15 without light perception (NLPs)) and 21 NSCs (age range 11-19 years old). Whole-brain voxel-based analyses of diffusion tensor imaging metrics and region-of-interest analyses of resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) were performed to compare patterns of brain microstructure and the corresponding RSFC between the groups. The results showed that structural disruptions of LPs and NLPs were mainly located in the occipital visual pathway. Compared with NLPs, LPs showed increased fractional anisotropy (FA) in the superior frontal gyrus and reduced diffusivity in the caudate nucleus. Moreover, the correlations between FA of the occipital cortices or mean diffusivity of the lingual gyrus and age were consistent with the development trajectory of the brain in NSCs, but inconsistent or even opposite in EBAs. Additionally, we found functional, but not structural, reorganization in NLPs compared with NSCs, suggesting that functional neuroplasticity occurs earlier than structural neuroplasticity in EBAs. Altogether, these findings provided new insights into the mechanisms underlying the neural reorganization of the brain in adolescents with early visual deprivation.

scholarly journals Thalamic Functional Connectivity during Spatial Long-Term Memory and the Role of Sex

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 898
Author(s):  
Dylan S. Spets ◽  
Scott D. Slotnick
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Thalamic Nuclei ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Correlated Activity ◽  
Abstract Shapes

The thalamus has been implicated in many cognitive processes, including long-term memory. More specifically, the anterior (AT) and mediodorsal (MD) thalamic nuclei have been associated with long-term memory. Despite extensive mapping of the anatomical connections between these nuclei and other brain regions, little is known regarding their functional connectivity during long-term memory. The current study sought to determine which brain regions are functionally connected to AT and MD during spatial long-term memory and whether sex differences exist in the patterns of connectivity. During encoding, abstract shapes were presented to the left and right of fixation. During retrieval, shapes were presented at fixation, and participants made an “old-left” or “old-right” judgment. Activations functionally connected to AT and MD existed in regions with known anatomical connections to each nucleus as well as in a broader network of long-term memory regions. Sex differences were identified in a subset of these regions. A targeted region-of-interest analysis identified anti-correlated activity between MD and the hippocampus that was specific to females, which is consistent with findings in rodents. The current results suggest that AT and MD play key roles during spatial long-term memory and suggest that these functions may be sex specific.

scholarly journals A short, robust brain activation control task optimised for pharmacological fMRI studies

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica-Lily Harvey ◽  
Lysia Demetriou ◽  
John McGonigle ◽  
Matthew B. Wall
Keyword(s):  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Neurovascular Coupling ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Control Task ◽  
Physiological Factors ◽  
Basic Task ◽  
Task Conditions ◽  
Reliability Coefficients

Background Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a popular method for examining pharmacological effects on the brain; however, the BOLD response is dependent on intact neurovascular coupling, and potentially modulated by a number of physiological factors. Pharmacological fMRI is therefore vulnerable to confounding effects of pharmacological probes on general physiology or neurovascular coupling. Controlling for such non-specific effects in pharmacological fMRI studies is therefore an important consideration, and there is an additional need for well-validated fMRI task paradigms that could be used to control for such effects, or for general testing purposes. Methods We have developed two variants of a standardized control task that are short (5 minutes duration) simple (for both the subject and experimenter), widely applicable, and yield a number of readouts in a spatially diverse set of brain networks. The tasks consist of four functionally discrete three-second trial types (plus additional null trials) and contain visual, auditory, motor and cognitive (eye-movements, and working memory tasks in the two task variants) stimuli. Performance of the tasks was assessed in a group of 15 subjects scanned on two separate occasions, with test-retest reliability explicitly assessed using intra-class correlation coefficients. Results Both tasks produced robust patterns of brain activation in the expected brain regions, and region of interest-derived reliability coefficients for the tasks were generally high, with four out of eight task conditions rated as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’, and only one out of eight rated as ‘poor’. Median values in the voxel-wise reliability measures were also >0.7 for all task conditions, and therefore classed as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. The spatial concordance between the most highly activated voxels and those with the highest reliability coefficients was greater for the sensory (auditory, visual) conditions than the other (motor, cognitive) conditions. Discussion Either of the two task variants would be suitable for use as a control task in future pharmacological fMRI studies or for any other investigation where a short, reliable, basic task paradigm is required. Stimulus code is available online for re-use by the scientific community.

scholarly journals Transcranial alternating current stimulation attenuates BOLD adaptation and increases functional connectivity

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 428-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kohitij Kar ◽  
Takuya Ito ◽  
Michael W. Cole ◽  
Bart Krekelberg
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Electric Fields ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Alternating Current ◽  
Human Motion ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Bold Imaging ◽  
Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation ◽  
The Brain

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is used as a noninvasive tool for cognitive enhancement and clinical applications. The physiological effects of tACS, however, are complex and poorly understood. Most studies of tACS focus on its ability to entrain brain oscillations, but our behavioral results in humans and extracellular recordings in nonhuman primates support the view that tACS at 10 Hz also affects brain function by reducing sensory adaptation. Our primary goal in the present study is to test this hypothesis using blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) imaging in human subjects. Using concurrent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and tACS, and a motion adaptation paradigm developed to quantify BOLD adaptation, we show that tACS significantly attenuates adaptation in the human motion area (hMT+). In addition, an exploratory analysis shows that tACS increases functional connectivity of the stimulated hMT+ with the rest of the brain and the dorsal attention network in particular. Based on field estimates from individualized head models, we relate these changes to the strength of tACS-induced electric fields. Specifically, we report that functional connectivity (between hMT+ and any other region of interest) increases in proportion to the field strength in the region of interest. These findings add support for the claim that weak 10-Hz currents applied to the scalp modulate both local and global measures of brain activity. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Concurrent transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) and functional MRI show that tACS affects the human brain by attenuating adaptation and increasing functional connectivity in a dose-dependent manner. This work is important for our basic understanding of what tACS does, but also for therapeutic applications, which need insight into the full range of ways in which tACS affects the brain.

scholarly journals Childhood Maltreatment, Cortical and Amygdala Morphometry, Functional Connectivity, Laterality, and Psychopathology

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 458-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin H. Teicher ◽  
Alaptagin Khan
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
Preventable Risk Factor ◽  
New Information ◽  
Increase Risk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Better Than

Child maltreatment (CM) is the most important preventable risk factor for psychopathology and there is a pressing need to understand how CM gets ‘under the skin’ to markedly increase risk in some individuals as well as a comparable effort to identify factors associated with better than expected outcomes in other individuals. This special issue of Child Maltreatment provides a series of sophisticated studies on the neurobiological impact of CM, of which we have chosen 4 articles to comment on.The articles by Oshri et al., and Peveril, Sheridan, Busso & McLaughlin are amygdala centric and provide important new information on the impact of CM on the morphology and functional connectivity of this highly stress susceptible structure. The article by Demers et al., presents data from a longitudinal study that illustrates the potentially disruptive effects of CM on the association between maternal relationship quality, frontal cortical development and symptomatology. Finally, the De Bellis et al., study addresses the pressing question, which we have labeled the ‘ecophenotype hypothesis’, that postulates that maltreated and non-maltreated individuals with the same primary DSM diagnosis are clinically and neurobiologically distinct, and provides new evidence for a specific prefrontal cortical neurobiological abnormality in the maltreated subtype.

Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy Sensory Side Effects Follow the Thalamic Structural Homonculus

2020 ◽  
pp. 10.1212/CPJ.0000000000001013
Author(s):  
Michelle Paff ◽  
Alexandre Boutet ◽  
Jürgen Germann ◽  
Gavin J. B. Elias ◽  
Clement T. Chow ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Focused Ultrasound ◽  
Univariate Analysis ◽  
Spatial Relationship ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Medial Lemniscus ◽  
Sensory Nucleus

AbstractIntroduction:Focused ultrasound thalamotomy is an effective treatment for tremor, however, side effects may occur. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the spatial relationship between thalamotomies and specific sensory side effects as well as their functional connectivity with somatosensory cortex and relationship to the medial lemniscus (ML).Methods:Sensory adverse effects were categorized into four groups based on the location of the disturbance: face/mouth/tongue numbness/paresthesia, hand-only paresthesia, hemi-body/limb paresthesia, and dysgeusia. Then, areas of significant risk (ASR) for each category were defined using voxel-wise mass univariate analysis and overlaid on corresponding odds ratio maps. The ASR area associated with the maximum risk was used as a region-of-interest in a normative functional connectome to determine side-effect specific functional connectivity. Finally, each ASR was overlaid on the medial lemniscus derived from normative template.Results:Of 103 patients, 17 developed sensory side effects after thalamotomy persisting 3 months after the procedures. Lesions producing sensory side effects extended posteriorly into the principle sensory nucleus of the thalamus or below the thalamus in the ML. The topography of sensory adverse effects followed the know somatotopy of the ML and the sensory nucleus. Functional connectivity patterns between each sensory-specific thalamic seed and the primary somatosensory areas supported the role of the middle insula in processing of gustatory information and in multisensory integration.Discussion:Distinct regions in the sensory thalamus and its afferent connections rise to specific sensory disturbances. These findings demonstrate the relationship between the sensory thalamus, ML, and bilateral sensory cortical areas.

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