Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Montessorilaan 3, 6525 HR, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Sci Rep. 2018 Jun 15;8(1):9201. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-27439-5.
Animal and human studies have shown that both early-life traumatic events and ongoing stress episodes affect neurodevelopment, however, it remains unclear whether and how they modulate normative adolescent neuro-maturational trajectories. We characterized effects of early-life (age 0-5) and ongoing stressors (age 14-17) on longitudinal changes (age 14 to17) in grey matter volume (GMV) of healthy adolescents (n = 37). Timing and stressor type were related to differential GMV changes. More personal early-life stressful events were associated with larger developmental reductions in GMV over anterior prefrontal cortex, amygdala and other subcortical regions; whereas ongoing stress from the adolescents' social environment was related to smaller reductions over the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortex. These findings suggest that early-life stress accelerates pubertal development, whereas an adverse adolescent social environment disturbs brain maturation with potential mental health implications: delayed anterior cingulate maturation was associated with more antisocial traits - a juvenile precursor of psychopathy.
动物和人类研究表明，早期生活中的创伤事件和持续的压力事件都会影响神经发育，但目前尚不清楚它们是否以及如何调节正常青少年的神经成熟轨迹。我们描述了早期生活（0-5 岁）和持续的压力源（14-17 岁）对健康青少年（n=37）的灰质体积（GMV）纵向变化（14 岁至 17 岁）的影响。发生时间和压力源类型与 GMV 的变化有关。更多的个人早期生活压力事件与前额皮质、杏仁核和其他皮质下区域 GMV 的发育性减少有关；而来自青少年社会环境的持续压力与眶额皮质和前扣带皮质 GMV 减少较少有关。这些发现表明，早期生活压力会加速青春期发育，而青少年不良的社会环境会干扰大脑成熟，可能对心理健康产生影响：前扣带皮质成熟延迟与更多的反社会特征有关——反社会行为是精神病态的青少年前体。
