Early life stress is associated with default system integrity and emotionality during infancy.
Early life stress is associated with default system integrity and emotionality during infancy.
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DOI：
10.1111/jcpp.12409
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发表时间：
2015-11
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Fair DA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Graham AM;Pfeifer JH;Fisher PA;Carpenter S;Fair DA
广泛的动物研究已经证明了大脑对早期生活压力（ELS）的脆弱性，并对情绪发展和心理健康产生影响。然而，对早期人类大脑发育的中等和常见形式的压力的影响还不太清楚，也没有精确的特征。到目前为止，大多数工作都集中在严重的压力形式，和/或在压力暴露后的大脑功能。在这份报告中，我们专注于父母之间的冲突（父母间冲突），一种常见的和相对温和的ELS形式，与儿童的心理健康结果高度相关。我们使用静息状态功能连接MRI检查婴儿大脑（N=23; 6-12个月的年龄）在父母间冲突的背景下的协调功能。我们专注于默认模式网络（DMN），由于其良好的特征发展轨迹和心理健康的影响。我们进一步研究了DMN强度作为冲突和婴儿消极情绪之间的中介。自出生以来，父母之间的冲突越高，婴儿的两个核心DMN区域，后扣带皮层（PCC）和前内侧前额叶皮层（aMPFC）之间的连接性越强。PCC到杏仁核的连接也增加了。更强的PCC-aMPFC连接介导更高的冲突和更高的负面婴儿情绪。发展中的DMN可能是ELS影响情绪发展和随后的心理健康的重要标志。越来越多地了解常见形式的家庭压力和新兴的功能性大脑网络之间的关联，有可能为改善心理健康结果的干预工作提供信息。
Extensive animal research has demonstrated the vulnerability of the brain to early life stress (ELS) with consequences for emotional development and mental health. However, the influence of moderate and common forms of stress on early human brain development is less well understood and precisely characterized. To date, most work has focused on severe forms of stress, and/or on brain functioning years after stress exposure. In this report we focused on conflict between parents (interparental conflict), a common and relatively moderate form of ELS that is highly relevant for children's mental health outcomes. We used resting state functional connectivity MRI to examine the coordinated functioning of the infant brain (N=23; 6–12-months-of-age) in the context of interparental conflict. We focused on the default mode network (DMN) due to its well characterized developmental trajectory and implications for mental health. We further examined DMN strength as a mediator between conflict and infants’ negative emotionality. Higher interparental conflict since birth was associated with infants showing stronger connectivity between two core DMN regions, the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the anterior medial prefrontal cortex (aMPFC). PCC to amygdala connectivity was also increased. Stronger PCC-aMPFC connectivity mediated between higher conflict and higher negative infant emotionality. The developing DMN may be an important marker for effects of ELS with relevance for emotional development and subsequent mental health. Increasing understanding of the associations between common forms of family stress and emerging functional brain networks has potential to inform intervention efforts to improve mental health outcomes.