Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; University of Oregon, Eugene, OR.
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2020 Jun;59(6):739-748.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2019.04.018. Epub 2019 May 2.
This study aimed to examine longitudinally whether adrenarcheal timing (adrenarcheal hormone levels independent of age) and tempo (change in hormone levels over time) were associated with amygdala functional connectivity and how this in turn related to anxiety symptoms in the transition from childhood to adolescence.
Participants were 64 children (34 girls) who completed the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale and saliva collections to measure levels of testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate at two time points (mean age 9.5 years at time 1 [T1], 12.2 years at time 2 [T2]). Participants also viewed fearful and calm facial expressions while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning at both time points. Amygdala functional connectivity was assessed with psychophysiological interaction analysis and modeled longitudinally with the Multivariate and Repeated Measures MATLAB toolbox.
Controlling for age, higher dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate at T1 was related to an increase in amygdala to inferior frontal gyrus connectivity over time (T1 to T2) in boys, but the opposite pattern was found in girls. Dehydroepiandrosterone at T1 showed a positive association with amygdala connectivity to several lateral prefrontal areas and the anterior cingulate across time. Higher dehydroepiandrosterone at T1 was indirectly related to more anxiety symptoms at T2, controlling for symptoms at T1, via more positive amygdala to inferior frontal gyrus connectivity. Changes in hormone levels did not relate to changes in amygdala connectivity (from T1 to T2).
The results suggest that amygdala to prefrontal cortex connectivity may be a mechanism through which early adrenarcheal timing predicts the development of anxiety symptoms during adrenarche.
本研究旨在纵向研究肾上腺功能初现（与年龄无关的肾上腺激素水平）和速度（激素水平随时间的变化）是否与杏仁核功能连接有关，以及这种连接如何反过来与儿童到青少年过渡期间的焦虑症状有关。
参与者为 64 名儿童（34 名女孩），他们在两个时间点完成了斯宾塞儿童焦虑量表和唾液采集，以测量睾酮、脱氢表雄酮和硫酸脱氢表雄酮的水平（第 1 次时间点的平均年龄为 9.5 岁[T1]，第 2 次时间点为 12.2 岁[T2]）。参与者还在两次时间点进行功能磁共振成像扫描时观看了恐惧和平静的面部表情。杏仁核功能连接通过心理生理相互作用分析进行评估，并使用多变量和重复测量 MATLAB 工具箱进行纵向建模。
控制年龄后，T1 时硫酸脱氢表雄酮水平较高与男孩的杏仁核与下额回连接随时间（T1 至 T2）增加有关，但在女孩中则相反。T1 时的脱氢表雄酮与杏仁核与几个外侧前额叶区域和前扣带回的连接在整个时间内呈正相关。T1 时脱氢表雄酮水平较高与 T2 时更多的焦虑症状呈正相关，控制 T1 时的症状，通过更积极的杏仁核与下额回的连接。T1 至 T2 期间，激素水平的变化与杏仁核连接的变化无关。
研究结果表明，杏仁核与前额叶皮层的连接可能是早期肾上腺功能初现预测青春期肾上腺功能初现期间焦虑症状发展的机制。
