title: Relationship of trauma symptoms to amygdala-based functional brain changes in adolescents.
abstract: In this pilot study, amygdala connectivity related to trauma symptoms was explored using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI) in 23 healthy adolescents ages 13-17 years with no psychiatric diagnoses. Adolescents completed a self-report trauma symptom checklist and a R-fMRI scan. We examined the relationship of trauma symptoms to resting-state functional connectivity of the amygdala. Increasing self-report of trauma symptoms by adolescents was associated with increasing functional connectivity with the right amygdala and a local limbic cluster and decreasing functional connectivity with the amygdala and a long-range frontoparietal cluster to the left amygdala, which can be a hallmark of immaturity. These pilot findings in adolescents provide preliminary evidence that even mild trauma symptoms can be linked to the configuration of brain networks associated with the amygdala.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Kate B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Nooner
authors.forename: Maarten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mennes
authors.forename: Shaquanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: F Xavier
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Castellanos
authors.forename: Bennett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Leventhal
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Milham
authors.forename: Stanley J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Colcombe
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D057566:Self Report; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000503:physiopathology