Disentangling the effects of early caregiving experience and heritable factors on brain white matter development in rhesus monkeys

Early social experiences, particularly maternal care, shape behavioral and physiological development in primates. Thus, it is not surprising that adverse caregiving, such as child maltreatment leads to a vast array of poor developmental outcomes, including increased risk for psychopathology across the lifespan. Studies of the underlying neurobiology of this risk have identified structural and functional alterations in cortico-limbic brain circuits that seem particularly sensitive to these early adverse experiences and are associated with anxiety and affective disorders. However, it is not understood how these neurobiological alterations unfold during development as it is very difficult to study these early phases in humans, where the effects of maltreatment experience cannot be disentangled from heritable traits. The current study examined the specific effects of experience (“nurture”)versus heritable factors (“nature”)on the development of brain white matter (WM)tracts with putative roles in socioemotional behavior in primates from birth through the juvenile period. For this we used a randomized crossfostering experimental design in a naturalistic rhesus monkey model of infant maltreatment, where infant monkeys were randomly assigned at birth to either a mother with a history of maltreating her infants, or a competent mother. Using a longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)atlas-based tract-profile approach we identified widespread, but also specific, maturational changes on major brain tracts, as well as alterations in a measure of WM integrity (fractional anisotropy, FA)in the middle longitudinal fasciculus (MdLF)and the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), of maltreated animals, suggesting decreased structural integrity in these tracts due to early adverse experience. Exploratory voxelwise analyses confirmed the tract-based approach, finding additional effects of early adversity, biological mother, social dominance rank, and sex in other WM tracts. These results suggest tract-specific effects of postnatal maternal care experience versus heritable or biological factors on primate WM microstructural development. Further studies are needed to determine the specific behavioral outcomes and biological mechanisms associated with these alterations in WM integrity

Anatomical and Neurochemical Correlates of Parental Verbal Abuse: A Combined MRS—Diffusion MRI Study

Despite the critical impact of parental dialog on children who remain physically and psychologically dependent, most studies have focused on brain alterations in people exposed to moderate-to-high levels of emotional maltreatment with/without psychopathology. We measured metabolites in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC) acquired with single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy and anatomical connectivity assessed with probabilistic tractography in 46 healthy young adults who experienced no-to-low level parental verbal abuse (paVA) during their childhood and adolescence. The partial least square regression (PLSR) model showed that individual variance of perceived paVA was associated with chemical properties and structural connectivity of pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC; prediction R2 = 0.23). The jackknife test was used to identify features that significantly contributed to the partial least square regression (PLSR) model; a negative association of paVA was found with myo-inositol concentration, anatomical connectivities with the right caudate and with the right transverse temporal gyrus. Of note, positive associations were also found with the left pars triangularis, left cuneus, right inferior temporal cortex, right entorhinal cortex and right amygdala. Our results showing both a negative association of frontal glial function and positive associations of anatomical connectivities in several networks associated with threat detection or visual information processing suggest both anatomical and neurochemical adaptive changes in medial frontolimbic networks to low-level paVA experiences

The enduring impact of childhood maltreatment on grey matter development

Childhood maltreatment doubles an individual’s risk of developing a psychiatric disorder, yet the neurobiological nature of the enduring impact of childhood maltreatment remains elusive. This thesis explores the long-term effect of childhood maltreatment on grey matter. The primary aims of this thesis are to discern the spatial extent, temporal profile and physiological breadth of the developmental impact of childhood maltreatment amongst young people with emerging mental disorder. Chapter II comprises of a meta-analysis of thirty-eight published articles and demonstrates that adults with a history of childhood maltreatment most commonly exhibit reduced grey matter in the hippocampus, amygdala and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, compared to non-maltreated adults. Chapters III-V contain three original studies, involving a cohort of 123 young people, aged 14-26, with emerging mental illness. Chapter III bridges a gap between cross-sectional child and adult studies by longitudinally mapping the developmental trajectory of the hippocampus and amygdala following childhood maltreatment. This study provided the first direct evidence that childhood maltreatment stunts hippocampal development into young adulthood. Chapter IV assesses the utility of the cumulative stress and mismatch hypotheses in understanding the contribution of childhood abuse and recent stress to the structure and function of the limbic system. Chapter V extends on recent advances in connectome research to examine the effect of childhood maltreatment on structural covariance networks. Investigation of the correspondence of structural covariance with structural connectivity and functional connectivity revealed that reduced grey matter across the network is likely related to deceased functional coactivation following childhood maltreatment. Chapter VI discusses the significance of these studies in understanding how maltreatment shapes brain development and increases the risk of psychiatric illness

Effects of Childhood Maltreatment on Social Cognition and Brain Functional Connectivity in Borderline Personality Disorder Patients

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a chronic condition characterized by high levels of impulsivity, affective instability, and difficulty to establish and manage interpersonal relationships. However, little is known about its etiology and neurobiological substrates. In our study, we wanted to investigate the influence of child abuse in the psychopathology of BPD by means of social cognitive paradigms [the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) and the reading the mind in the eyes test (RMET)], and resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). For this, we recruited 33 participants, 18 BPD patients, and 15 controls. High levels of self-reported childhood maltreatment were reported by BPD patients. For the sexual abuse subdimension, there were no differences between the BPD and the control groups, but there was a negative correlation between MASC scores and total childhood maltreatment levels, as well as between physical abuse, physical negligence, and MASC. Both groups showed that the higher the level of childhood maltreatment, the lower the performance on the MASC social cognitive test. Further, in the BPD group, there was hypoconnectivity between the structures responsible for emotion regulation and social cognitive responses that have been described as part of the frontolimbic circuitry (i.e., amygdala). Differential levels of connectivity, associated with different types and levels of abuse were also observed

Becoming dad: Exploring the neurobiology of the transition into fatherhood

Item does not contain fulltextVrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 22 juni 2021Promotores : Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J., Schuengel, C. Co-promotor : Riem, M.M.E.177 p

Violence in the family institution: parenting styles, discipline and child abuse

Las conductas de maltrato infantil suelen ocurrir en el marco de las prácticas de crianza, especialmente en la implementación de pautas disciplinares. En la mayoría de los casos la reprimenda basada en castigos físicos se encuentra naturalizada. En este sentido, distintos estudios indican que frecuentemente, aquellos adultos que han sufrido distintas formas de maltrato en su infancia tienden a reproducirlas sobre sus hijos, de modo que se refuerza la idea de que las pautas de crianza son, en gran medida, aprendidas a partir de la propia experiencia del cuidador. En el caso del maltrato infantil, distintos estudios indican que este tipo de sucesos, altamente estresantes, en muchos casos se configura como traumático, estableciéndose en gran medida como precursores en el desarrollo de distintos trastornos psiquiátricos en la adultez. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo realizar una revisión del estado del arte de la problemática del maltrato infantil y el desarrollo de trastornos psiquiátricos en la adultez, para este fin se analizaron materiales de distintas bases de datos como Scielo, PsycINFO, Redalyc, Scopus, EBSCO.Child abuse behaviors usually occur within the framework of parenting practices, especially in the implementation of disciplinary guidelines. In most cases the reprimand based on physical punishment is naturalized.In this sense, different stu dies indicate that frequently, those adults who have suffered different forms of abuse in their childhood tend to reproduce them on their children,so that the idea that parenting patterns are, to a large extent, learned by from the caregiver's own experience.In the case of child abuse, different studies indicate that this type of events, highly stressful,in many cases is configured as traum atic, establishing itself largely as precursors in the development of different psychiatric disorders in adulthood. The present work has as objective to make a review of the state of the art of the problem of child abuse and the development of psychiatric disorders in adulthood, for this purpose we analyze materials from different databases such as Scielo, PsycINFO, Redalyc, Scopus, EBSCO.Fil: Matrángolo, Gisela Maricel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Maimonides. Facultad de Humanidades, Ciencias Sociales y Empresariales. Centro de Estudios Sociales, Politicos y Juridicos; Argentin

La violencia en la institución familiar: estilos de crianza, disciplina y Maltrato Infantil.

Las conductas de maltrato infantil suelen ocurrir en el marco de las prácticas de crianza, especialmente en la implementación de pautas disciplinares. En la mayoría de los casos la  reprimenda  basada en castigos físicos se encuentra naturalizada. En este sentido, distintos estudios indican que frecuentemente, aquellos adultos que han sufrido distintas formas de maltrato en su infancia tienden a reproducirlas sobre sus hijos, de modo que se refuerza la idea de que las pautas de crianza son, en gran medida, aprendidas a partir de la propia experiencia del cuidador. En el caso del maltrato infantil, distintos estudios indican que este tipo de sucesos, altamente estresantes, en muchos casos se configura como traumático, estableciéndose en gran medida como  precursores en el desarrollo de distintos trastornos psiquiátricos en la adultez

Functional and Structural Connectivity of Limbic and Interpersonally Relevant Regions in Non-Suicidal Self-Injury

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. August 2019. Major: Psychology. Advisors: Bonnie Klimes-Dougan, Monica Luciana. 1 computer file (PDF); vio, 121 pages.Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) commonly begins in adolescence and is associated with an array of negative outcomes including suicide. Research has only begun to explore the neurobiological mechanisms associated with this behavior, most often among adults with borderline personality disorder. However, research is urgently needed to study NSSI among adolescents in order to understand potential neurobiological correlates. Applications of this knowledge would potentially be used to identify neurobiologically informed intervention strategies targeting these deficits and restore healthy neurodevelopmental trajectories. The present study implemented a multi-modal approach to understanding neural functioning by examining structural and functional connectivity in adolescents with versus without NSSI. Given previous clinical findings on NSSI, this study focused on brain regions implicated in negative affect and interpersonal sensitivity, the amygdala and dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC) respectively. Overall, the NSSI group showed widespread differences in both functional and structural connectivity compared to controls. These patterns were suggestive of possible influence of negative affect on emotional memory, planning of motor movements, and interpersonal relationships. Additionally, the NSSI group showed impairments in structural connectivity consistent with those seen in major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders. Given the paucity of neurobiological research on NSSI, this study represents an important first step in furthering the understanding of this behavior in adolescents and will aid in generating hypotheses for future work