Open AccessReduced functional connectivity of fronto-parietal sustained attention networks in severe childhood abuse
Author(s) -
Heledd Hart,
Lena Lim,
Mitul A. Mehta,
Antonia Chatzieffraimidou,
Charles Curtis,
Xiaohui Xu,
Gerome Breen,
Andrew Simmons,
K. A. Mirza,
Katya Rubia
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0188744
Subject(s) - functional magnetic resonance imaging , fkbp5 , psychology , child abuse , functional connectivity , medicine , clinical psychology , poison control , neuroscience , audiology , psychiatry , injury prevention , environmental health , glucocorticoid receptor , glucocorticoid
Childhood maltreatment is associated with attention deficits. We examined the effect of childhood abuse and abuse-by-gene ( 5-HTTLPR , MAOA , FKBP5 ) interaction on functional brain connectivity during sustained attention in medication/drug-free adolescents. Functional connectivity was compared, using generalised psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, between 21 age-and gender-matched adolescents exposed to severe childhood abuse and 27 healthy controls, while they performed a parametrically modulated vigilance task requiring target detection with a progressively increasing load of sustained attention. Behaviourally, participants exposed to childhood abuse had increased omission errors compared to healthy controls. During the most challenging attention condition abused participants relative to controls exhibited reduced connectivity, with a left-hemispheric bias, in typical fronto-parietal attention networks, including dorsolateral, rostromedial and inferior prefrontal and inferior parietal regions. Abuse-related connectivity abnormalities were exacerbated in individuals homozygous for the risky C-allele of the single nucleotide polymorphism rs3800373 of the FK506 Binding Protein 5 (FKBP5) gene. Findings suggest that childhood abuse is associated with decreased functional connectivity in fronto-parietal attention networks and that the FKBP5 genotype moderates neurobiological vulnerability to abuse. These findings represent a first step towards the delineation of abuse-related neurofunctional connectivity abnormalities, which hopefully will facilitate the development of specific treatment strategies for victims of childhood maltreatment.