Picci Giorgia, Christopher-Hayes Nicholas J, Petro Nathan M, Taylor Brittany K, Eastman Jacob A, Frenzel Michaela R, Wang Yu-Ping, Stephen Julia M, Calhoun Vince D, Wilson Tony W
Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA.
Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
Neurobiol Stress. 2022 Apr 27;18:100456. doi: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2022.100456. eCollection 2022 May.
The vast majority of individuals experience trauma within their lifetime. Yet, most people do not go on to develop clinical levels of psychopathology. Recently, studies have highlighted the potential protective effects of having larger amygdala and hippocampal volumes, such that larger volumes may promote adaptive functioning following trauma. However, research has not yet elucidated whether certain subregions of these stress-sensitive structures have specific protective effects. Herein, we examined the mediating effects of amygdala and hippocampal subregions on the relationship between traumatic exposure and concurrent or longitudinal changes in psychiatric symptom levels in typically developing youth (9-15 years of age). Using high-resolution T-and T-weighted structural MRI scans, we found that the volume of the right basolateral complex of the amygdala mediated associations between trauma exposure and internalizing symptoms. Specifically, greater levels of childhood trauma related to larger volumes, and larger volumes were associated with fewer internalizing symptoms. The volume of the right CA4/dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus yielded similar mediation results, such that greater trauma was related to larger volumes, which in turn were associated with decreases in internalizing symptoms across time. These findings provide initial support for potentially protective effects of larger right amygdala and hippocampal subregion volumes against internalizing symptomology concurrently and longitudinally during adolescence.
绝大多数人在其一生中都会经历创伤。然而，大多数人并不会发展到临床水平的精神病理学状态。最近，研究强调了杏仁核和海马体体积较大可能具有的保护作用，即较大的体积可能会促进创伤后的适应性功能。然而，研究尚未阐明这些对压力敏感的结构的某些子区域是否具有特定的保护作用。在此，我们研究了杏仁核和海马体子区域对典型发育青少年（9至15岁）创伤暴露与精神症状水平的同时期或纵向变化之间关系的中介作用。通过使用高分辨率的T加权和T2加权结构磁共振成像扫描，我们发现杏仁核右侧基底外侧复合体的体积介导了创伤暴露与内化症状之间的关联。具体而言，童年创伤程度越高，相关体积越大，而较大的体积与较少的内化症状相关。海马体右侧CA4/齿状回（DG）的体积产生了类似的中介结果，即更大的创伤与更大的体积相关，这反过来又与随着时间推移内化症状的减少相关。这些发现为青春期期间右侧杏仁核和海马体子区域较大的体积对同时期和纵向内化症状学可能具有的保护作用提供了初步支持。
