Amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex connectivity relates to stress and mental health in early childhood

Early life stress has been associated with disrupted functional connectivity between the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), but it is unknown how early in development stress-related differences in amygdala-mPFC connectivity emerge. In a resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analys...

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Main Authors: Park, Anne T, Leonard, Julia Anne, Saxler, Patricia Kasak, Cyr, Abigail B., Gabrieli, John D. E., Mackey, Allyson P
Other Authors: McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2020
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/126433
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author Park, Anne T
Leonard, Julia Anne
Saxler, Patricia Kasak
Cyr, Abigail B.
Gabrieli, John D. E.
Mackey, Allyson P
author2 McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
author_facet McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
Park, Anne T
Leonard, Julia Anne
Saxler, Patricia Kasak
Cyr, Abigail B.
Gabrieli, John D. E.
Mackey, Allyson P
author_sort Park, Anne T
collection MIT
description Early life stress has been associated with disrupted functional connectivity between the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), but it is unknown how early in development stress-related differences in amygdala-mPFC connectivity emerge. In a resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analysis with 79 four- to seven-year-old children, we found a significant correlation between more adverse experiences and weaker amygdala-mPFC rs-FC. We also found that weaker amygdala-mPFC rs-FC was associated with higher levels of aggressive behavior and attention problems. These findings suggest that the impact of stress on emotional circuitry is detectable in early childhood and that this impact is associated with mental health difficulties. Connectivity in this circuit may be useful as a marker for mental health risk and for tracking the efficacy of early interventions.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1264332022-09-28T08:08:52Z Amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex connectivity relates to stress and mental health in early childhood Park, Anne T Leonard, Julia Anne Saxler, Patricia Kasak Cyr, Abigail B. Gabrieli, John D. E. Mackey, Allyson P McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Early life stress has been associated with disrupted functional connectivity between the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), but it is unknown how early in development stress-related differences in amygdala-mPFC connectivity emerge. In a resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analysis with 79 four- to seven-year-old children, we found a significant correlation between more adverse experiences and weaker amygdala-mPFC rs-FC. We also found that weaker amygdala-mPFC rs-FC was associated with higher levels of aggressive behavior and attention problems. These findings suggest that the impact of stress on emotional circuitry is detectable in early childhood and that this impact is associated with mental health difficulties. Connectivity in this circuit may be useful as a marker for mental health risk and for tracking the efficacy of early interventions. 2020-07-29T21:39:08Z 2020-07-29T21:39:08Z 2018-03 2018-01 2019-10-01T13:35:28Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1749-5016 1749-5024 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/126433 Park, Anne T. et al. "Amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex connectivity relates to stress and mental health in early childhood." Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 13, 4 (March 2018): 430–439 © 2018 The Author(s) en http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsy017 Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ application/pdf Oxford University Press (OUP) Oxford University Press
spellingShingle Park, Anne T
Leonard, Julia Anne
Saxler, Patricia Kasak
Cyr, Abigail B.
Gabrieli, John D. E.
Mackey, Allyson P
Amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex connectivity relates to stress and mental health in early childhood
title Amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex connectivity relates to stress and mental health in early childhood
title_full Amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex connectivity relates to stress and mental health in early childhood
title_fullStr Amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex connectivity relates to stress and mental health in early childhood
title_full_unstemmed Amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex connectivity relates to stress and mental health in early childhood
title_short Amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex connectivity relates to stress and mental health in early childhood
title_sort amygdala medial prefrontal cortex connectivity relates to stress and mental health in early childhood
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/126433
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