Poster Session 04 Program Schedule
02/15/2024
12:00 pm - 01:15 pm
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)
Poster Session 04: Neuroimaging | Neurostimulation/Neuromodulation | Teleneuropsychology/Technology
Final Abstract #41
Sex-Specific Effect of In-Utero Stress Exposure on Subsequent Child Gray Matter Volume of the Bilateral Amygdala
Christine Ginalis, The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York City, United States
Donato DeIngeniis, The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York City, United States
Yoko Nomura, Queens College, CUNY, New York City, United States
Category: Neuroimaging
Keyword 1: prenatal factors
Keyword 2: neuroimaging: structural
Keyword 3: brain development
Objective:
To assess the sex-specific effects of stress exposure in-utero due to natural disaster Hurricane Sandy on the long-term development of child’s bilateral amygdala volumes.
Participants and Methods:
The present pilot study examines mother-child dyads (subsample of N= 34) from the longitudinal Stress in Pregnancy study. Mothers were dichotomized as either being pregnant or not pregnant while Hurricane Sandy made landfall. Children who were exposed to Hurricane Sandy and the destructive aftermath in-utero were operationalized as being exposed to stress in-utero. Children participated in a structural MRI scan between the ages 6-11 and gray matter volume for bilateral regions of the amygdala were extracted. Moderation analysis was utilized to test sex differences in association between in-utero stress exposure and bilateral amygdala volumes, while controlling for age during the MRI scan.
Results:
Neither child’s sex (p=0.337) nor in-utero stress exposure (p=0.682) showed a significant effect on left amygdala volume. In addition, no interaction effect was seen on left amygdala volume. In contrast, sex (p=0.042) was a significant predictor of greater right amygdala volumes in females, where in-utero stress exposure was not significant (p=0.311). Furthermore, a significant interaction emerged between the two predictors (p=0.024) on right amygdala volume. Pairwise comparisons showed that females exposed to stress in-utero had larger right amygdala volumes (M=0.143) than males exposed to stress in-utero (M=0.124), females not exposed (M=0.133), and males not exposed (M=0.134).
Conclusions:
Results indicate that in-utero exposure to stress due to Hurricane Sandy had a lasting impact on the child’s right amygdala structural development in a sex specific manner. Specifically, females are more impacted by exposure to stress during pregnancy in their long-term neurodevelopment. Interestingly, the right amygdala was impacted, which is more strongly associated with negative emotional processing compared to the left amygdala. In recent years, there is a growing recognition that prenatal period is one of the most sensitive periods with long-lasting neurodevelopmental consequences. The current study not only add to the growing literature on the importance of prenatal period but also identify biological sex as potential vulnerability factor for future suboptimal neurodevelopment related to emotion regulation. Taken together, it is important to consider the prenatal period as a crucial window for long-term right amygdala development, which is a key component for emotional processing, particularly for female fetuses who are more susceptible to in-utero exposure to stress.
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