title: Dissociable relations between amygdala subregional networks and psychopathy trait dimensions in conduct-disordered juvenile offenders.
abstract: Psychopathy is a serious psychiatric phenomenon characterized by a pathological constellation of affective (e.g., callous, unemotional), interpersonal (e.g., manipulative, egocentric), and behavioral (e.g., impulsive, irresponsible) personality traits. Though amygdala subregional defects are suggested in psychopathy, the functionality and connectivity of different amygdala subnuclei is typically disregarded in neurocircuit-level analyses of psychopathic personality. Hence, little is known of how amygdala subregional networks may contribute to psychopathy and its underlying trait assemblies in severely antisocial people. We addressed this important issue by uniquely examining the intrinsic functional connectivity of basolateral (BLA) and centromedial (CMA) amygdala networks in relation to affective, interpersonal, and behavioral traits of psychopathy, in conduct-disordered juveniles with a history of serious delinquency (N = 50, mean age = 16.83 ± 1.32). As predicted, amygdalar connectivity profiles exhibited dissociable relations with different traits of psychopathy. Interpersonal psychopathic traits not only related to increased connectivity of BLA and CMA with a corticostriatal network formation accommodating reward processing, but also predicted stronger CMA connectivity with a network of cortical midline structures supporting sociocognitive processes. In contrast, affective psychopathic traits related to diminished CMA connectivity with a frontolimbic network serving salience processing and affective responding. Finally, behavioral psychopathic traits related to heightened BLA connectivity with a frontoparietal cluster implicated in regulatory executive functioning. We suggest that these trait-specific shifts in amygdalar connectivity could be particularly relevant to the psychopathic phenotype, as they may fuel a self-centered, emotionally cold, and behaviorally disinhibited profile. Hum Brain Mapp 37:4017-4033, 2016. © 2016 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Curium, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands. m.aghajani@curium.nl.|Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, the Netherlands. m.aghajani@curium.nl.|Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. m.aghajani@curium.nl.
authors.forename: Moji
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aghajani
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Curium, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.|Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, the Netherlands.|School of Law, Psychology, and Social Work, Orebro University, Orebro, Sweden.
authors.forename: Olivier F
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Colins
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Curium, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.|Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Eduard T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Klapwijk
authors.affiliation: Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Ilya M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Veer
authors.affiliation: School of Law, Psychology, and Social Work, Orebro University, Orebro, Sweden.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Andershed
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.|Faculty of Law, Leiden University, Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Arne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Popma
authors.affiliation: Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, the Netherlands.|Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Nic J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: van der Wee
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Curium, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.|Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Robert R J M
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Vermeiren
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000679:Amygdala / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D015897:Comorbidity; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D057237:Criminals; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D012146:Rest; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: amygdala; conduct disorder; intrinsic functional connectivity; psychopathy