Extensive microstructural changes in association and commissural fibers in adults with childhood maltreatment: An automated fiber quantification study

• Published in: Journal of affective disorders Vol. 389; p. 119746
• Main Authors: Du, Yanxuan, Huang, Huiyuan, Qiu, Yidan, Chen, Taihan, Liu, Xia, Su, Liujie, Li, Xinrui, Huang, Ruiwang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 15.11.2025
• Subjects: Adult; Adult Survivors of Child Abuse - psychology; Automated fiber quantification; Brain - pathology; Child; Child Abuse - psychology; Childhood maltreatment; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; Emotion dysregulation; Female; Humans; Male; Psychiatric/Mental Health; Reward; Reward dependence; Support vector regression; White matter; White Matter - diagnostic imaging; White Matter - pathology; Young Adult; Reward dependence; Emotion dysregulation; Support vector regression; Childhood maltreatment; Automated fiber quantification; White matter
• ISSN: 0165-0327; 1573-2517; 1573-2517
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2025.119746

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a pervasive global issue with heightened risk of both emotion dysregulation and reward dependence related behavioral problems and significantly affects microstructure of brain white matter (WM). Yet the specific alterations of WM microstructure alterations in CM individuals remain unclear. We explored fine-grained WM microstructure alterations using automatic fiber quantification and assessed their correlation with emotion dysregulation and reward dependence. Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) scores were collected from 1000 subjects. From these, 21 subjects with CTQ-SF ≥ 38 were selected as the CM group, and 22 subjects with 25 ≤ CTQ-SF ≤ 37 and scores of all subscales not exceeding the thresholds as the no CM group. Support vector regression models were utilized to explore the relationship between the fine-grained diffusion tensor images parameters and emotion dysregulation or reward dependence. The CM group exhibited alterations in the nodes of several association and commissural fibers, including uncinate, arcuate, inferior fronto-occipital, callosal forceps minor, and inferior longitudinal fasciculus. Remarkably, radial diffusivity in frontoparietal segment of left arcuate fasciculus were significant negatively correlated with reward dependence in the CM group. Mean diffusivity of left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and CM subtypes experiences could be used as predictors for emotion dysregulation. This cross-sectional study did not allow the establishment of a causal relationship unequivocally. Understanding the neurobiological alterations associated with childhood maltreatment provides a clue for potentially increasing the urgency of early screening for risk of behavioral problems related to emotion dysregulation and reward dependence. •Microstructural alterations found in association and commissural fibers in healthy childhood maltreatment (CM) adults.•Radial diffusivity in frontoparietal segment of left arcuate fasciculus were negatively correlated with reward dependence.•Mean diffusivity of left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and CM subtypes used as predictors for emotion dysregulation.•Emotional abuse and emotional neglect are regarded as the most important predictors for emotion dysregulation.•A clue for providing a non-invasive neuroimaging marker for adulthood emotion dysregulation.