title: Regional grey matter volume and concentration in at-risk adolescents: Untangling associations with callous-unemotional traits and conduct disorder symptoms.
abstract: Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging studies have reported volume reductions in several brain regions implicated in social cognition and emotion recognition in juvenile antisocial populations. However, it is unclear whether these structural abnormalities are specifically related to antisocial features, or to co-occurring callous-unemotional (CU) traits. The present study employed voxel-based morphometry to assess both grey matter volume (GMV) and grey matter concentration (GMC) in a large representative at-risk sample of adolescents (n=134; mean age 17.7yr), characterized by a broad range of CU trait and conduct disorder (CD) symptom scores. There was a significant interaction between CD symptom and CU trait scores in the prediction of GMV in the anterior insula, with a significant positive association between CU traits and GMV in youth low on CD symptoms only. In addition, we found a significant unique positive association between CD symptoms and GMC in the amygdala, and unique negative associations between CU traits and GMC in the amygdala and insula. These findings are in line with accumulating evidence of distinct associations of CD symptoms and CU traits with amygdala and insula GMC in juvenile antisocial populations.
authors.affiliation: VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: m.cohn@debascule.com.
authors.forename: Moran D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Cohn
authors.affiliation: University College London, Developmental Risk and Resilience Unit, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Essi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Viding
authors.affiliation: University College London, Developmental Risk and Resilience Unit, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Eamon
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: McCrory
authors.affiliation: VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; NYU Langone Medical Center, Department of Radiology/Center for Biomedical Imaging, NY, United States.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pape
authors.affiliation: University of Amsterdam - Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam Institute for Addiction Research, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: van den Brink
authors.affiliation: VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Theo A H
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Doreleijers
authors.affiliation: VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Dick J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Veltman
authors.affiliation: VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Leiden University, Institute of Criminal Law & Criminology, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Arne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Popma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000679:Amygdala / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Antisocial personality disorder; Brain structure; Callous-unemotional traits; Conduct disorder; Limited prosocial emotions; Psychopathy; Voxel-based morphometry