Disorganized Amygdala Networks in Conduct-Disordered Juvenile Offenders With Callous-Unemotional Traits

作者：Aghajani Moji; Klapwijk Eduard T; van der Wee Nic J; Veer Ilya M; Rombouts Serge A R B; Boon Albert E; van Beelen Peter; Popma Arne; Vermeiren Robert R J M; Colins Olivier F

来源：Biological Psychiatry, 2017, 82(4): 283-293.

DOI：10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.05.017

• Amygdala
• Callous-unemotional traits
• Conduct disorder
• Intrinsic functional connectivity
• Morphometry
• Psychopathy

BACKGROUND: The developmental trajectory of psychopathy seemingly begins early in life and includes the presence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits (e.g., deficient emotional reactivity, callousness) in conduct-disordered (CD) youth. Though subregion-specific anomalies in amygdala function have been suggested in CU pathophysiology among antisocial populations, system-level studies of CU traits have typically examined the amygdala as a unitary structure. Hence, nothing is yet known of how amygdala subregional network function may contribute to callous-unemotionality in severely antisocial people.
METHODS: We addressed this important issue by uniquely examining the intrinsic functional connectivity of basolateral amygdala (BLA) and centromedial amygdala (CMA) networks across three matched groups of juveniles: CD offenders with CU traits (CD/CU+; n = 25), CD offenders without CU traits (CD/CU-; n = 25), and healthy control subjects (n = 24). We additionally examined whether perturbed amygdala subregional connectivity coincides with altered volume and shape of the amygdaloid complex.
RESULTS: Relative to CD/CU- and healthy control youths, CD/CU+ youths showed abnormally increased BLA connectivity with a cluster that included both dorsal and ventral portions of the anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortices, along with posterior cingulate, sensory associative, and striatal regions. In contrast, compared with CD/CU- and healthy control youths, CD/CU+ youths showed diminished CMA connectivity with ventromedial/orbitofrontal regions. Critically, these connectivity changes coincided with local hypotrophy of BLA and CMA subregions (without being statistically correlated) and were associated to more severe CU symptoms.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide unique insights into a putative mechanism for perturbed attention-emotion interactions, which could bias salience processing and associative learning in youth with CD/CU+.

• 出版日期2017-8-15