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Citation
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Liuzzi MT, Harb F, Petranu K, Huggins AA, Webb EK, Fitzgerald JM, Krukowski JL, Miskovich TA, deRoon-Cassini TA, Larson CL. Biol. Psychiatry Cogn. Neurosci. Neuroimaging 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub. |
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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Childhood maltreatment is associated with reduced activation of the nucleus accumbens, a central region in the reward network, and overactivity in the amygdala, a key region in threat processing. However, the long-lasting impact of these associations in the context of later life stress is not well understood. The current study explored the association between childhood threat and deprivation and functional connectivity of threat- and reward-regions in an adult trauma sample.
METHODS: Trauma survivors (N=169, M age=32.2; SD=10.3; female=55.6%) were recruited from a Level I Trauma Center. Two-weeks post injury, participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (measuring experiences of threat and deprivation) and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Seed-to-voxel analyses evaluated the effect of childhood threat and deprivation on amygdala and nucleus accumbens resting-state connectivity.
RESULTS: Higher levels of threat were associated with increased connectivity between the right nucleus accumbens with temporal fusiform gyrus/parahippocampal gyrus and left amygdala and the precuneus (p<.05 FDR corrected). After controlling for posttraumatic symptoms two weeks post-trauma and lifetime trauma exposure, only the nucleus accumbens findings survived. There were no significant relationships between experiences of childhood deprivation and amygdala or nucleus accumbens connectivity.
DISCUSSION: Experiences of threat are associated with increased nucleus accumbens and amygdala connectivity, which may reflect a preparedness to detect salient and visual stimuli. This may also reflect a propensity towards dysregulated reward processing. Overall, these results suggest that childhood threat may be contributing to aberrant neural baseline reward and threat sensitivity later in life in an adult trauma sample.
Language: en |