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The following is a summary of “Exploring the association between childhood trauma and limbic system subregion volumes in healthy individuals: a neuroimaging study,” published in the November 2024 issue of Psychiatry by Lu et al.
Childhood trauma (CT) is a significant risk factor for psychiatric disorders, affecting emotional and cognitive functions. The limbic system regulates these functions, but most research has focused on patient populations.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to examine the impact of CT on limbic brain structure in healthy individuals.
They enrolled 48 healthy individuals, split into 24 healthy participants with CT (HP-CT) and 24 healthy participants without CT (HP-nCT). Participants completed scale assessments and underwent MRI scans. Subcortical volumes were segmented with FreeSurfer, and group comparisons and correlations with scale scores were analyzed.
The results showed that the HP-CT group had smaller volumes in several hippocampal, amygdala, and cortical limbic subregions, including the subiculum (Sub), cornu ammonis (CA)1, CA4, fimbria, basal nucleus (Ba), accessory basal nucleus (AB), cortico-amygdaloid transition area (CAT), and paralaminar nucleus (PL) in the left hemisphere, as well as the hippocampal tail, presubiculum (PreSub), and basal forebrain in the right hemisphere. Volume changes in the CA4 and granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus (GC-ML-DG) bodies correlated with sexual abuse, while the right basal forebrain volume was linked to emotional neglect. However, these findings were not significant after correction for multiple comparisons.
They found that CT affected multiple limbic structures, suggesting region-specific changes as potential clinical biomarkers for psychiatric disorders.
Source: bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-024-06306-w
