Department of Psychology, Roehampton University, London, UK.
Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, Combined Universities Brain Imaging Centre, University of London, Surrey, UK.
J Psychopharmacol. 2023 May;37(5):510-519. doi: 10.1177/02698811231168243. Epub 2023 Apr 17.
Childhood trauma (CT) has been linked to increased risk for mental illness in adulthood. Although work in experimental animals has shown that early life stressors can affect inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmission in adult rodents, with possible excitotoxic effects on local grey matter volumes (GMV), the neurobiological mechanisms that mediate this relationship in humans remain poorly understood.
To examine glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) metabolite concentrations and potential excitotoxic effects on GMV, in adults who experienced CT.
Fifty-six young adults ( = 20.41) were assigned to High CT ( = 29) and Low CT ( = 27) groups (by using the CT questionnaire) and underwent magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) to measure temporal lobe metabolite concentrations and volumetric imaging to measure GMV.
Glutamate concentrations did not differ between groups; however, relative to the Low CT group, participants in the High CT group had reduced GABA concentrations in the left superior temporal gyrus (STG) voxel. Furthermore, logistic regression showed that participants with low left STG GABA concentrations and low left STG volumes were significantly more likely to be in the high CT group.
This study provides the first evidence that both low GABA concentrations and its interaction with GMV in the left STG are associated with high levels of CT and suggest that altered inhibitory neurotransmission/metabolism may be linked to a lower GMV in the left STG in adults who experienced CT. Future studies are warranted to establish if utilizing these measures can stratify clinical high-risk and predict future clinical outcomes in high CT individuals.
童年创伤（CT）已被证明与成年人的精神疾病风险增加有关。虽然实验动物的研究表明，早期生活应激源会影响成年啮齿动物的抑制性和兴奋性神经递质传递，并可能对局部灰质体积（GMV）产生兴奋性毒性作用，但介导这种关系的神经生物学机制在人类中仍知之甚少。
检查经历 CT 的成年人的谷氨酸和γ-氨基丁酸（GABA）代谢物浓度及其对 GMV 的潜在兴奋性毒性作用。
将 56 名年轻成年人（ = 20.41）分配到高 CT（ = 29）和低 CT（ = 27）组（使用 CT 问卷），并进行磁共振波谱（H-MRS）以测量颞叶代谢物浓度和容积成像以测量 GMV。
两组之间的谷氨酸浓度没有差异；然而，与低 CT 组相比，高 CT 组参与者左颞上回（STG）体素中的 GABA 浓度降低。此外，逻辑回归显示，左 STG GABA 浓度低和左 STG 体积小的参与者更有可能处于高 CT 组。
本研究首次提供证据表明，左 STG 中的低 GABA 浓度及其与 GMV 的相互作用与 CT 水平升高有关，并表明抑制性神经传递/代谢的改变可能与经历 CT 的成年人左 STG 中的 GMV 降低有关。需要进一步的研究来确定是否可以利用这些措施对临床高危人群进行分层，并预测高 CT 个体的未来临床结局。
