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History of childhood maltreatment is associated with reduced fractional anisotropy of the accumbofrontal ‘reward’ tract in healthy adults

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Abstract

The deleterious outcomes associated with exposure to childhood maltreatment (CM) are well known and may be at least partially mediated by self-harm behaviors. It has been suggested that these self-harm behaviors serve as a means of decreasing negative mood states but the effects of CM on health outcomes may be much more sinister. A wealth of data suggest that CM may lead to experience-dependent changes in neural circuits underlying reward processes; processes associated with many harmful behaviors. The present study examined the relationship between a history of CM and the microstructure of a white matter tract that may be central to reward processes. Healthy adults (N = 122) were assessed with a diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) exam and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Probabilistic tractography was used to delineate the accumbofrontal “reward” tract, connecting the orbitofrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens, and measures of white matter microstructure were extracted. We then examined whether variation in CTQ scores were associated with variation in the microstructure of this tract as measured by fractional anisotropy (FA). After accounting for the effects of age and sex, the CTQ total score accounted for approximately 6% of the variance of FA in the accumbofrontal tract (F(3, 121) = 5.74; p = .001). Post hoc analyses indicated that the overall severity of CM, rather than a specific type of maltreatment, drove this result. These findings indicate that CM influences white matter microstructure in a fiber tract that is likely central to reward processes and adds to a growing literature implicating CM in long-term health-related outcomes.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health to Dr. DeRosse (MH086756) and Dr. Karlsgodt (MH101506) and the NSLIJ Research Institute General Clinical Research Center (M01 RR018535).

Funding

This study was funded by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health to Dr. DeRosse (MH086756) and Dr. Karlsgodt (MH101506) and the NSLIJ Research Institute General Clinical Research Center (M01 RR018535).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Department of Psychiatry, Hempstead, NY, 11549, USA

    Pamela DeRosse & Anil K. Malhotra

  2. Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA

    Pamela DeRosse & Anil K. Malhotra

  3. Division of Psychiatry Research, The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Division of Northwell Health, Glen Oaks, NY, USA

    Pamela DeRosse & Anil K. Malhotra

  4. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, School of Applied Sciences, University of Mississippi, University, MS, USA

    Toshikazu Ikuta

  5. Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Katherine H. Karlsgodt

  6. Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Katherine H. Karlsgodt

  7. Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Philip R. Szeszko

  8. James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY, USA

    Philip R. Szeszko

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  1. Pamela DeRosse
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  2. Toshikazu Ikuta
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  3. Katherine H. Karlsgodt
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  4. Philip R. Szeszko
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  5. Anil K. Malhotra
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Correspondence to Pamela DeRosse.

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Conflict of interest

Dr.’s DeRosse, Ikuta, Karlsgodt and Szeszko report no competing interests. Dr. Malhotra has served as consultant or speaker for Bristol-Myers Squibb, Astra Zeneca, Vanda Pharmaceuticals and Clinical Data, Inc., and has received research support from Pfizer, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Eli Lilly.

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DeRosse, P., Ikuta, T., Karlsgodt, K.H. et al. History of childhood maltreatment is associated with reduced fractional anisotropy of the accumbofrontal ‘reward’ tract in healthy adults. Brain Imaging and Behavior 14, 353–361 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-020-00265-y

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