Objective:

Childhood abuse represents one of the most potent risk factors for developing psychopathology, especially in females. Evidence suggests that exposure to early-life adversity may be related to advanced maturation of emotion processing neural circuits. However, it remains unknown whether abuse is related to early circuit maturation and whether maturation patterns depend on the presence of psychopathology.

Methods:

A multisite sample of 234 girls (ages 8–18 years) completed clinical assessment, maltreatment histories, and high-resolution T₁-weighted structural MRI. Girls were stratified by abuse history and internalizing disorder diagnosis into typically developing (no abuse/no diagnosis), resilient (abuse/no diagnosis), and susceptible (abuse/current diagnosis) groups. Machine learning models of normative brain development were aggregated in a stacked generalization framework trained to predict chronological age using gray matter volume in whole-brain, emotion, and language circuit parcellations. Brain age gap estimations (BrainAGEs; predicted age minus true chronological age) were calculated as indices of relative circuit maturation.

Results:

Childhood abuse was related to reduced BrainAGE (delayed maturation) specific to emotion circuits. Delayed emotion circuit BrainAGE was further related to increased hyperarousal symptoms. Childhood physical neglect was associated with increased whole-brain BrainAGE (advanced maturation). Neural contributors to emotion circuit BrainAGE differed in girls with and without an internalizing diagnosis, especially in the lateral prefrontal, parietal, and insular cortices and the hippocampus.

Conclusions:

Abuse exposure in girls is associated with a delayed structural maturation pattern specific to emotion circuitry, a potentially adaptive mechanism enhancing threat generalization. Physical neglect, on the other hand, is associated with a broader brain-wide pattern of advanced structural maturation. The differential influence of fronto-parietal cortices and the hippocampus on emotion circuit maturity in resilient girls may represent neurodevelopmental markers of reduced psychiatric risk following abuse.

中文翻译：

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有或没有内化精神病理学的受虐女孩情绪回路成熟延迟的不同模式

 客观的：

童年虐待是发展精神病理学的最有力的危险因素之一，尤其是在女性中。有证据表明，早年经历逆境可能与情绪处理神经回路的提前成熟有关。然而，目前尚不清楚虐待是否与早期回路成熟有关以及成熟模式是否取决于精神病理学的存在。

 方法：

234 名女孩（年龄 8-18 岁）的多部位样本完成了临床评估、虐待史和高分辨率 T ₁加权结构 MRI。根据虐待史和内化疾病诊断，将女孩分为典型发展组（无虐待/无诊断）、有弹性（虐待/无诊断）和易感组（虐待/当前诊断）。规范大脑发育的机器学习模型聚集在一个堆叠的泛化框架中，该框架经过训练，可以使用全脑、情感和语言回路分区中的灰质体积来预测实际年龄。大脑年龄差距估计（BrainAGEs；预测年龄减去真实年龄）被计算为相对电路成熟度的指数。

 结果：

童年虐待与情绪回路特有的 BrainAGE（延迟成熟）减少有关。延迟情绪回路 BrainAGE 进一步与过度警觉症状的增加相关。童年时期的身体忽视与全脑 BrainAGE（提前成熟）的增加有关。在有或没有内化诊断的女孩中，情绪回路 BrainAGE 的神经贡献因素有所不同，特别是在外侧前额叶、顶叶、岛叶皮质和海马体中。

 结论：

女孩遭受虐待与情感回路特有的延迟结构成熟模式有关，这是一种增强威胁泛化的潜在适应性机制。另一方面，身体忽视与更广泛的全脑高级结构成熟模式相关。额顶叶皮质和海马体对有弹性的女孩情绪回路成熟度的不同影响可能代表了虐待后精神风险降低的神经发育标志。