title: Prenatal drug exposure affects neonatal brain functional connectivity.
abstract: Prenatal drug exposure, particularly prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE), incurs great public and scientific interest because of its associated neurodevelopmental consequences. However, the neural underpinnings of PCE remain essentially uncharted, and existing studies in school-aged children and adolescents are confounded greatly by postnatal environmental factors. In this study, leveraging a large neonate sample (N = 152) and non-invasive resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, we compared human infants with PCE comorbid with other drugs (such as nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, and antidepressant) with infants with similar non-cocaine poly drug exposure and drug-free controls. We aimed to characterize the neural correlates of PCE based on functional connectivity measurements of the amygdala and insula at the earliest stage of development. Our results revealed common drug exposure-related connectivity disruptions within the amygdala-frontal, insula-frontal, and insula-sensorimotor circuits. Moreover, a cocaine-specific effect was detected within a subregion of the amygdala-frontal network. This pathway is thought to play an important role in arousal regulation, which has been shown to be irregular in PCE infants and adolescents. These novel results provide the earliest human-based functional delineations of the neural-developmental consequences of prenatal drug exposure and thus open a new window for the advancement of effective strategies aimed at early risk identification and intervention.
authors: Department of Radiology and Biomedical Research Imaging Center and.
authors: Andrew P
authors: AP
authors: Salzwedel
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Neurobiology, and Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, and wgao@email.unc.edu Karen_Grewen@med.unc.edu.
authors: Karen M
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2588-6568
authors: KM
authors: Grewen
authors: Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112.
authors: Clement
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8771-1803
authors: C
authors: Vachet
authors: Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112.
authors: Guido
authors: G
authors: Gerig
authors: Department of Radiology and Biomedical Research Imaging Center and.
authors: Weili
authors: W
authors: Lin
authors: Department of Radiology and Biomedical Research Imaging Center and wgao@email.unc.edu Karen_Grewen@med.unc.edu.
authors: Wei
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9260-2601
authors: W
authors: Gao
mesh_terms: D000438:Alcohols / Q000009:adverse effects; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002188:Cannabis / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009538:Nicotine / Q000009:adverse effects; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D000438:Alcohols; D009538:Nicotine; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: amygdala; fMRI; functional connectivity; infant; insula; prenatal drug exposure