Puberty represents a critical period in maturation during which major changes in neural architecture emerge; these changes are shaped, in part, by environmental experiences, including exposure to psychological trauma. However, little is known about how trauma exposure affects white matter microstructure across pubertal stages. This was the goal of the present cross-sectional study. Forty-one male and female African-American children between ages 8–13 were recruited as part of a study of developmental trauma and received assessments of trauma exposure, including violence, and pubertal development as well as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Significant interactions of pubertal stage and violent trauma exposure were observed in association with a marker of white matter integrity (mean diffusivity, MD) in the corpus callosum, cingulum bundle and uncinate fasciculus. Greater violent trauma exposure was associated with lower MD in the hippocampal cingulum and uncinate fasciculus in girls, but not boys. These data from a sample of trauma-exposed children may reflect a pattern of accelerated maturation in pathways that are critical for emotion regulation as well as attention and memory processes. It appears that fronto-limbic and callosal connections are particularly sensitive to the effects of violent trauma, revealing a potential pathway through which trauma creates vulnerability for later psychiatric and neurological disorders.

中文翻译：

---

创伤暴露儿童的白质微结构：与青春期的关联

青春期是成熟的关键时期，在此期间神经结构出现重大变化。这些变化部分是由环境经验塑造的，包括遭受心理创伤。然而，关于创伤暴露如何影响整个青春期的白质微观结构知之甚少。这是本横断面研究的目标。作为发育创伤研究的一部分，招募了 41 名 8-13 岁的男性和女性非裔美国儿童，并接受了创伤暴露评估，包括暴力、青春期发育以及弥散张量成像 (DTI)。青春期阶段和暴力创伤暴露的显着相互作用与胼胝体中白质完整性（平均扩散率，MD）的标志物相关联，扣带束和钩束。更大的暴力创伤暴露与女孩的海马扣带和钩束的 MD 较低有关，但与男孩无关。这些来自受过创伤的儿童样本的数据可能反映了对情绪调节以及注意力和记忆过程至关重要的途径中加速成熟的模式。额叶边缘和胼胝体连接似乎对暴力创伤的影响特别敏感，揭示了创伤为后来的精神疾病和神经系统疾病创造脆弱性的潜在途径。这些来自受过创伤的儿童样本的数据可能反映了对情绪调节以及注意力和记忆过程至关重要的途径中加速成熟的模式。额叶边缘和胼胝体连接似乎对暴力创伤的影响特别敏感，揭示了创伤为后来的精神疾病和神经系统疾病创造脆弱性的潜在途径。这些来自受过创伤的儿童样本的数据可能反映了对情绪调节以及注意力和记忆过程至关重要的途径中加速成熟的模式。额叶边缘和胼胝体连接似乎对暴力创伤的影响特别敏感，揭示了创伤为后来的精神疾病和神经系统疾病创造脆弱性的潜在途径。