Neural functional and structural correlates of childhood maltreatment in women with intimate-partner violence-related posttraumatic stress disorder

• Published in: Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging Vol. 211; no. 2; pp. 93 - 103
• Main Authors: Fonzo, Gregory A, Flagan, Taru M, Sullivan, Sarah, Allard, Carolyn B, Grimes, Erin M, Simmons, Alan N, Paulus, Martin P, Stein, Murray B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 28.02.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Abuse; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Adult Survivors of Child Abuse - psychology; Aggression; Anxiety; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Atrophy - pathology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain mapping; Cerebral Cortex - physiopathology; Child; Children; Early life stress; Emotions; Emotions - physiology; Face; Fear; Female; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Humans; Imaging; Limbic System - physiopathology; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neglect; Nerve Fibers, Unmyelinated - pathology; Neural networks; Neural Pathways - pathology; Neural Pathways - physiopathology; Neuroimaging; Pattern recognition; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Prefrontal Cortex - pathology; Prefrontal Cortex - physiopathology; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Radiology; Risk factors; Sexual Partners - psychology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - pathology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - physiopathology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology; Structure-function relationships; Substantia grisea; Trauma; Victimology; Violence - psychology; Early life stress; Anxiety; Abuse; Trauma; Imaging; Neglect; Human; Affect affectivity; Anxiety disorder; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Victimology; Stress; Child abuse; Intimate partner violence; Female; Early; Woman; Social behavior disorder
• ISSN: 0925-4927; 1872-7506
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2012.08.006

Abstract Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a strong risk factor for development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) upon adult exposure to extreme adverse events. However, the neural underpinnings of this relationship are not well understood. Here, we test the hypothesis that severity of CM history is positively correlated with emotion-processing limbic and prefrontal brain activation/connectivity and negatively correlated with prefrontal gray matter volumes in women with PTSD due to intimate-partner violence (IPV-PTSD). Thirty-three women with IPV-PTSD underwent structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging while completing a facial emotion processing task. Multivariate regressions examined the relationship of CM to patterns of activation, connectivity, and gray matter volumes. CM severity was: (a) positively correlated with ventral ACC activation while processing angry faces; (b) negatively correlated with dorsal ACC and insula activation while processing fear and angry faces, arising from positive correlations with the shape-matching baseline; (c) positively correlated with limbic–prefrontal connectivity while processing fear faces but negatively correlated with amygdalo–insular connectivity while processing fear and angry; and (d) negatively correlated with prefrontal gray matter volumes. These results suggest CM exposure may account for variability in limbic/prefrontal brain function and prefrontal structure in adulthood PTSD and offer one potential mechanism through which CM confers risk to future development of PTSD.