Childhood trauma moderates morphometric associations between orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala: implications for pathological personality traits

Research has demonstrated that chronic stress exposure early in development can lead to detrimental alterations in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)-amygdala circuit. However, the majority of this research uses functional neuroimaging methods, and thus the extent to which childhood trauma corresponds to morphometric alterations in this limbic-cortical network has not yet been investigated. This study had two primary objectives: (i) to test whether anatomical associations between OFC-amygdala differed between adults as a function of exposure to chronic childhood assaultive trauma and (ii) to test how these environment-by-neurobiological effects relate to pathological personality traits.

Participants were 137 ethnically diverse adults (48.1% female) recruited from the community who completed a clinical diagnostic interview, a self-report measure of pathological personality traits, and anatomical MRI scans.

Findings revealed that childhood trauma moderated bilateral OFC-amygdala volumetric associations. Specifically, adults with childhood trauma exposure showed a positive association between medial OFC volume and amygdalar volume, whereas adults with no childhood exposure showed the negative OFC-amygdala structural association observed in prior research with healthy samples. Examination of the translational relevance of trauma-related alterations in OFC-amygdala volumetric associations for disordered personality traits revealed that trauma exposure moderated the association of OFC volume with antagonistic and disinhibited phenotypes, traits characteristic of Cluster B personality disorders.

The OFC-amygdala circuit is a potential anatomical pathway through which early traumatic experiences perpetuate emotional dysregulation into adulthood and confer risk for personality pathology. Results provide novel evidence of divergent neuroanatomical pathways to similar personality phenotypes depending on early trauma exposure.