TY - JOUR
T1 - Cortical thickness, cortico-amygdalar networks, and externalizing behaviors in healthy children
AU - Ameis, Stephanie H.
AU - Ducharme, Simon
AU - Albaugh, Matthew D.
AU - Hudziak, James J.
AU - Botteron, Kelly N.
AU - Lepage, Claude
AU - Zhao, Lu
AU - Khundrakpam, Budhachandra
AU - Collins, D. Louis
AU - Lerch, Jason P.
AU - Wheeler, Anne
AU - Schachar, Russell
AU - Evans, Alan C.
AU - Karama, Sherif
N1 - Funding Information:
This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (Contract numbers N01-HD02-3343, N01-MH9-0002, and N01-NS-9-2314, N01-NS-9-2315, N01-NS-9-2316, N01-NS-9-2317, N01-NS-9-2319, and N01-NS-9-2320).
Funding Information:
Dr. Ameis receives financial support from an Ontario Mental Health Foundation Research Training Fellowship. Dr. Ducharme received financial support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Fonds de Recherche en Santé du Québec Fellowship Award, and the American Psychiatric Association/Lilly Psychiatric Research Fellowship Award. Dr. Albaugh receives funding from the Child and Adolescent Psychology Training and Research Foundation. Dr. Hudziak has received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease. Dr. Botteron has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Behavior, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Communities Healing Adolescent Depression and Suicide Foundation, the McDonnell Foundation, the Simons Foundation, and Autism Speaks. Dr. Karama is supported by the Fonds de Recherche en Santé du Québec.
PY - 2014/1/1
Y1 - 2014/1/1
N2 - Background Fronto-amygdalar networks are implicated in childhood psychiatric disorders characterized by high rates of externalizing (aggressive, noncompliant, oppositional) behavior. Although externalizing behaviors are distributed continuously across clinical and nonclinical samples, little is known about how brain variations may confer risk for problematic behavior. Here, we studied cortical thickness, amygdala volume, and cortico-amygdalar network correlates of externalizing behavior in a large sample of healthy children. Methods Two hundred ninety-seven healthy children (6-18 years; mean = 12 ± 3 years), with 517 magnetic resonance imaging scans, from the National Institutes of Health Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Normal Brain Development, were studied. Relationships between externalizing behaviors (measured with the Child Behavior Checklist) and cortical thickness, amygdala volume, and cortico-amygdalar structural networks were examined using first-order linear mixed-effects models, after controlling for age, sex, scanner, and total brain volume. Results significant at p ≤.05, following multiple comparison correction, are reported. Results Left orbitofrontal, right retrosplenial cingulate, and medial temporal cortex thickness were negatively correlated with externalizing behaviors. Although amygdala volume alone was not correlated with externalizing behaviors, an orbitofrontal cortex-amygdala network predicted rates of externalizing behavior. Children with lower levels of externalizing behaviors exhibited positive correlations between orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala structure, while these regions were not correlated in children with higher levels of externalizing behavior. Conclusions Our findings identify key cortical nodes in frontal, cingulate, and temporal cortex associated with externalizing behaviors in children; and indicate that orbitofrontal-amygdala network properties may influence externalizing behaviors, along a continuum and across healthy and clinical samples.
AB - Background Fronto-amygdalar networks are implicated in childhood psychiatric disorders characterized by high rates of externalizing (aggressive, noncompliant, oppositional) behavior. Although externalizing behaviors are distributed continuously across clinical and nonclinical samples, little is known about how brain variations may confer risk for problematic behavior. Here, we studied cortical thickness, amygdala volume, and cortico-amygdalar network correlates of externalizing behavior in a large sample of healthy children. Methods Two hundred ninety-seven healthy children (6-18 years; mean = 12 ± 3 years), with 517 magnetic resonance imaging scans, from the National Institutes of Health Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Normal Brain Development, were studied. Relationships between externalizing behaviors (measured with the Child Behavior Checklist) and cortical thickness, amygdala volume, and cortico-amygdalar structural networks were examined using first-order linear mixed-effects models, after controlling for age, sex, scanner, and total brain volume. Results significant at p ≤.05, following multiple comparison correction, are reported. Results Left orbitofrontal, right retrosplenial cingulate, and medial temporal cortex thickness were negatively correlated with externalizing behaviors. Although amygdala volume alone was not correlated with externalizing behaviors, an orbitofrontal cortex-amygdala network predicted rates of externalizing behavior. Children with lower levels of externalizing behaviors exhibited positive correlations between orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala structure, while these regions were not correlated in children with higher levels of externalizing behavior. Conclusions Our findings identify key cortical nodes in frontal, cingulate, and temporal cortex associated with externalizing behaviors in children; and indicate that orbitofrontal-amygdala network properties may influence externalizing behaviors, along a continuum and across healthy and clinical samples.
KW - Amygdala
KW - cortical thickness
KW - externalizing behavior
KW - healthy children and adolescents
KW - network
KW - structural magnetic resonance imaging
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84889578263
U2 - 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.06.008
DO - 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.06.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 23890738
AN - SCOPUS:84889578263
SN - 0006-3223
VL - 75
SP - 65
EP - 72
JO - Biological Psychiatry
JF - Biological Psychiatry
IS - 1
ER -