title: Increased amygdala reactivity following early life stress: a potential resilience enhancer role.
abstract: Amygdala hyper-reactivity is sometimes assumed to be a vulnerability factor that predates depression; however, in healthy people, who experience early life stress but do not become depressed, it may represent a resilience mechanism. We aimed to test these hypothesis examining whether increased amygdala activity in association with a history of early life stress (ELS) was negatively or positively associated with depressive symptoms and impact of negative life event stress in never-depressed adults.
  
  
  
  Twenty-four healthy participants completed an individually tailored negative mood induction task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) assessment along with evaluation of ELS.
  
  
  
  Mood change and amygdala reactivity were increased in never-depressed participants who reported ELS compared to participants who reported no ELS. Yet, increased amygdala reactivity lowered effects of ELS on depressive symptoms and negative life events stress. Amygdala reactivity also had positive functional connectivity with the bilateral DLPFC, motor cortex and striatum in people with ELS during sad memory recall.
  
  
  
  Increased amygdala activity in those with ELS was associated with decreased symptoms and increased neural features, consistent with emotion regulation, suggesting that preservation of robust amygdala reactions may reflect a stress buffering or resilience enhancing factor against depression and negative stressful events.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 121 Meyran Avenue, Loeffler Building, 15260-5003, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.|Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 8 Ichiban-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-8472, Japan.|Present address. Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Tokushima University 1-1, Minamijosanjima-cho, 770-8502, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, 734-8551, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toki
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 121 Meyran Avenue, Loeffler Building, 15260-5003, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.|Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, 3811 O Hara St, 15213-2593, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Greg J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Siegle
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, 734-8551, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, 734-8551, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takaishi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology, Otemon Gakuin University, 2-1-15 Nishiai, 567-8502, Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinpei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, 734-8551, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Go
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, 734-8551, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Education, Hiroshima University, 1-1-1 Kagamiyama, 739-8524, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakao
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Tsukuba International University, 6-20-1 Manabe, 300-0051, Tsuchiura, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Muranaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Hiroshima City General Rehabilitation Center, 1-39-1 Tomo-minami, Asaminami-ku, 731-3168, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Yumiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kaseda
authors.affiliation: Kure Kyosai Hospital, 2-3-28 Nishi-chuo, 737-8505, Kure, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsuneji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, 734-8551, Hiroshima, Japan. oy@hiroshima-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Yasumasa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, 734-8551, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeto
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamawaki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D000679:Amygdala / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003863:Depression / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Amygdala reactivity; Depression; Early life stress; Resilience; fMRI