Impact of Trauma Exposure on Critical Periods in Brain Development and Fear Processing in Children

总结 童年创伤暴露构成了随后精神病理学的主要风险因素， 包括抑郁症，创伤后应激障碍，药物滥用，人格障碍， 和精神分裂症低收入城市人口的暴力暴露可能发生在生命早期， 生活在市中心地区的儿童遭受创伤的风险增加。虽然它表明， 早期的不良经历会影响大脑的激活和连接以及恐惧生理学 在儿童的发育过程中，这些影响大脑的机制尚不清楚。 明白很少有研究能捕捉到发育过程中持续创伤的影响， 因为大多数都是基于回顾性数据。拟议的纵向研究处于有利地位， 鉴于我们是从高创伤风险人群中招募的，因此要解决这一知识差距。的 拟议中的研究将结合联合收割机神经成像和恐惧生理学方法， 与创伤相关的大脑发育时期。男女征聘 儿童将允许在发育期间对性别差异进行探索性分析。 对创伤暴露和神经发育的回顾性研究表明，9岁 到11代表与恐惧相关的神经生物学的特别敏感的时期。为了 针对这一关键时期，9岁的儿童将从格雷迪创伤项目招募， 亚特兰大市中心，主要由低收入、非裔美国家庭组成，其次是 预期两年。创伤暴露和惊吓将每六个月进行一次评估 在9到11岁之间，以评估创伤暴露的关键时期。大脑 结构和功能将每年在第9、10和11年进行评估。在我们以前 研究发现，创伤暴露的程度在9 和11岁。独特的前瞻性纵向设计将允许分析 既存创伤和新创伤暴露对神经生物学的影响 表型。

SUMMARY Childhood trauma exposure constitutes a major risk factor for subsequent psychopathology, including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, personality disorders, and schizophrenia. Violence exposure in low-income, urban populations can occur early in life, increasing risk for trauma exposure in children living in inner-city areas. While it is shown that early adverse experiences affect brain activation and connectivity as well as fear physiology during development in children, the mechanisms of these effects on the brain are not clearly understood. Very few studies have captured the effects of ongoing trauma during development, as most are based on retrospective data. The proposed longitudinal study is well-positioned to address this gap in knowledge given our recruitment from a high trauma risk population. The proposed research will combine neuroimaging and fear physiology methods to examine critical periods for trauma-related correlates of brain development. Recruitment of male and female children will allow for exploratory analyses of sex differences during development. Retrospective research on trauma exposure and neural development suggest that ages 9 through 11 represent particularly sensitive periods for fear-relevant neurobiology. In order to target this critical period, 9-year-old children will be recruited from the Grady Trauma Project in inner-city Atlanta, composed primarily of low-income, African American families and followed prospectively for two years. Trauma exposure and startle will be assessed every six months between ages 9 and 11, in order to assess the critical period for trauma exposure. Brain structure and function will be assessed every year, at years 9, 10, and 11. In our previous studies, we have found that the degree of trauma exposure significantly increases between 9 and 11 years of age. The unique prospective longitudinal design will allow for analysis of the effects of both pre-existing trauma and new trauma exposure on the neurobiological phenotypes.