Nakhid Daphne, Patel Darpal, McMorris Carly A, Gibbard W Ben, Tortorelli Christina, Pei Jacqueline, Lebel Catherine
Neuroscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI), University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res (Hoboken). 2023 Nov;47(11):2033-2044. doi: 10.1111/acer.15181. Epub 2023 Sep 12.
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) can result in reduced brain volume and an increased risk of mental health challenges. Limbic brain structures such as the hippocampus, thalamus, and amygdala often exhibit smaller volumes in youth with PAE, and similar volume reductions are observed in unexposed youth with symptoms of depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and schizophrenia. However, the role of volume reductions in these brain regions in mental health challenges remains unclear for individuals with PAE.
Thirty-four youth with PAE and 72 unexposed youth aged 7-16 years completed a T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scan. FreeSurfer was used to process and extract volumes for hippocampal subfields, thalamic subnuclei, and amygdalar subnuclei. Depression and anxiety symptoms were measured using the Behavioral Assessment System for Children (BASC-2/3-PRS), the Children's Depression Inventory, and the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children. We tested whether limbic subregion volumes differed between youth with and those without PAE and whether volumes were associated with depression and/or anxiety symptoms, controlling for age and gender.
Multiple hippocampal and thalamic subregions, but not amygdalar subnuclei, were smaller in individuals with PAE. Multiple group-brain interactions were observed for depression symptoms and subregion volumes. Negative associations between anxiety and limbic subregions were observed across groups.
These findings show extensive volume reductions in the hippocampus and thalamus in youth with PAE. PAE also appears to disrupt the association between depression symptoms and limbic subregions in youth, which may have implications for interventions in these individuals. Anxiety symptoms in youth with and without PAE are similarly associated with limbic volumes.
孕期酒精暴露（PAE）会导致脑容量减小以及心理健康问题风险增加。海马体、丘脑和杏仁核等边缘脑结构在有PAE的青少年中通常体积较小，在未暴露但有抑郁、双相情感障碍、焦虑和精神分裂症症状的青少年中也观察到类似的体积减小。然而，对于有PAE的个体，这些脑区体积减小在心理健康问题中的作用仍不清楚。
34名有PAE的青少年和72名未暴露的7至16岁青少年完成了T1加权磁共振成像扫描。使用FreeSurfer处理并提取海马体亚区、丘脑亚核和杏仁核亚核的体积。使用儿童行为评估系统（BASC - 2/3 - PRS）、儿童抑郁量表和儿童多维焦虑量表测量抑郁和焦虑症状。我们测试了有和没有PAE的青少年之间边缘亚区体积是否存在差异，以及体积是否与抑郁和/或焦虑症状相关，并控制了年龄和性别。
有PAE的个体中，多个海马体和丘脑亚区体积较小，但杏仁核亚核体积没有减小。观察到抑郁症状和亚区体积之间存在多个组 - 脑交互作用。在各组中均观察到焦虑与边缘亚区之间的负相关。
这些发现表明有PAE的青少年海马体和丘脑存在广泛的体积减小。PAE似乎还破坏了青少年抑郁症状与边缘亚区之间的关联，这可能对这些个体的干预有影响。有和没有PAE的青少年的焦虑症状与边缘体积同样相关。
