Early childhood family threat and longitudinal amygdala-mPFC circuit development: Examining cortical thickness and gray matter-white matter contrast

Sandra Thijssen; Yllza Xerxa; Linn B Norbom; Maaike Cima; Henning Tiemeier; Christian K Tamnes; Ryan L Muetzel

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101462

Early childhood family threat and longitudinal amygdala-mPFC circuit development: Examining cortical thickness and gray matter-white matter contrast

Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2024 Oct 16:70:101462. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101462. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Sandra Thijssen¹, Yllza Xerxa², Linn B Norbom³, Maaike Cima⁴, Henning Tiemeier⁵, Christian K Tamnes³, Ryan L Muetzel⁶

Affiliations

¹ Behavioral Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Electronic address: sandra.thijssen@ru.nl.
² Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
³ NORMENT, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway; PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway; Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
⁴ Behavioral Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States.
⁶ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Abstract

Early threat-associated cortical thinning may be interpreted as accelerated cortical development. However, non-adaptive processes may show similar macrostructural changes. Examining cortical thickness (CT) together with grey/white-matter contrast (GWC), a proxy for intracortical myelination, may enhance the interpretation of CT findings. In this prospective study, we examined associations between early life family-related threat (harsh parenting, family conflict, and neighborhood safety) and CT and GWC development from late childhood to middle adolescence. MRI was acquired from 4200 children (2069 boys) from the Generation R study at ages 8, 10 and 14 years (in total 6114 scans), of whom 1697 children had >1 scans. Linear mixed effect models were used to examine family factor-by-age interactions on amygdala volume, caudal and rostral anterior cingulate (ACC) and medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) CT and GWC. A neighborhood safety-by-age-interaction was found for rostral ACC GWC, suggesting less developmental change in children from unsafe neighborhoods. Moreover, after more stringent correction for motion, family conflict was associated with greater developmental change in CT but less developmental change in GWC. Results suggest that early threat may blunt ACC GWC development. Our results, therefore, do not provide evidence for accelerated threat-associated structural development of the amygdala-mPFC circuit between ages 8-14 years.

Keywords: Amygdala-mPFC circuit; Cortical thickness; Gray-white contrast; Neighborhood safety; Parenting; Threat.