title: Early life stress and trauma and enhanced limbic activation to emotionally valenced faces in depressed and healthy children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previous studies have examined the relationships between structural brain characteristics and early life stress in adults. However, there is limited evidence for functional brain variation associated with early life stress in children. We hypothesized that early life stress and trauma would be associated with increased functional brain activation response to negative emotional faces in children with and without a history of depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Psychiatric diagnosis and life events in children (starting at age 3-5 years) were assessed in a longitudinal study. A follow-up magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study acquired data (N = 115 at ages 7-12, 51% girls) on functional brain response to fearful, sad, and happy faces relative to neutral faces. We used a region-of-interest mask within cortico-limbic areas and conducted regression analyses and repeated-measures analysis of covariance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Greater activation responses to fearful, sad, and happy faces in the amygdala and its neighboring regions were found in children with greater life stress. Moreover, an association between life stress and left hippocampal and globus pallidus activity depended on children's diagnostic status. Finally, all children with greater life trauma showed greater bilateral amygdala and cingulate activity specific to sad faces but not the other emotional faces, although right amygdala activity was moderated by psychiatric status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that limbic hyperactivity may be a biomarker of early life stress and trauma in children and may have implications in the risk trajectory for depression and other stress-related disorders. However, this pattern varied based on emotion type and history of psychopathology.
authors: Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Electronic address: suzukih@psychiatry.wustl.edu.
authors: Hideo
authors: H
authors: Suzuki
authors: Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
authors: Joan L
authors: JL
authors: Luby
authors: Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
authors: Kelly N
authors: KN
authors: Botteron
authors: Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
authors: Rachel
authors: R
authors: Dietrich
authors: Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
authors: Mark P
authors: MP
authors: McAvoy
authors: Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
authors: Deanna M
authors: DM
authors: Barch
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003863:Depression / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008032:Limbic System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: child; early life stress; early life trauma; emotion; fMRI