Experience-dependent asymmetric variation in primate prefrontal morphology.
Theories of human development suggest that experiences embedded in social relationships alter prefrontal brain systems that mediate emotional self-regulation. This study tests for experience-dependent effects on prefrontal gray and white matter volumes determined in 39 young adult monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) 4 years after conditions that modified early maternal availability. These conditions were previously shown to alter subsequent measures of emotional behavior, social propensities, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress physiology. Here we identify significant differences in right but not left adult prefrontal volumes, with experience-dependent asymmetric variation most clearly expressed in ventral medial cortex measured in vivo by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Follow-up studies now need to determine whether maternal availability directly affects or interacts with subsequent experiences to alter prefrontal substrates of emotional processing and sensitivity to stress.
Lyons
David M
DM
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Psychiatry Neuroscience, Stanford University Medical School, 1201 Welch Road, MSLS Room P104, Mail Code 5485, CA 94305-5485, USA. dmlyons@stanford.edu
Afarian
Hagop
H
Schatzberg
Alan F
AF
Sawyer-Glover
Anne
A
Moseley
Michael E
ME
D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000502:physiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008426:Maternal Deprivation; D009929:Organ Size / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012453:Saimiri; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012931:Social Environment