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Early Infant Prefrontal Cortical Microstructure Predicts Present and Future Emotionality
Yicheng Zhang1, Layla Banihashemi2, Amelia Versace2
1Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Insights
Infant brain microstructure in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is linked to emotionality. Greater microstructural complexity in specific PFC regions may indicate higher risk for future emotional and behavioral problems.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Brain Imaging
Background:
- Infant negative emotionality (NE) and low positive emotionality (PE) predict future emotional and behavioral problems.
- The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is crucial for emotional regulation, with specialized subregions.
- Neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) assesses brain microstructure, but its link to infant emotionality is unexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between PFC microstructure and infant emotionality.
- To explore if specific PFC subregional microstructural indices predict concurrent and future infant NE and PE.
Main Methods:
- Modeled PFC subregional neurite density index (NDI) and orientation dispersion index (ODI) at 3 months.
- Used caregiver-reported infant NE and PE at 3 and 9 months.
- Employed multivariable and bivariate regression models.
Main Results:
- Positive associations found between rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) ODI and caudal ACC NDI with concurrent NE.
- Lateral orbitofrontal cortex ODI at 3 months positively associated with prospective NE.
- Dorsolateral PFC ODI negatively associated with concurrent PE.
Conclusions:
- Increased microstructural complexity (NDI/ODI) in PFC regions (rostral ACC, lateral OFC, caudal ACC, dorsolateral PFC) may relate to higher NE and lower PE.
- These findings suggest potential infant cortical markers for psychopathology risk.
Background:
High levels of infant negative emotionality (NE) and low positive emotionality (PE) predict future emotional and behavioral problems. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) supports emotional regulation, with each PFC subregion specializing in specific emotional processes. Neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging estimates microstructural integrity and myelination via the neurite density index (NDI) and dispersion via the orientation dispersion index (ODI), with potential to more accurately evaluate microstructural alterations in the developing brain. Yet, no study has used these indices to examine associations between PFC microstructure and concurrent or developing infant emotionality.
Methods:
We modeled PFC subregional NDI and ODI at 3 months with caregiver-reported infant NE and PE at 3 months (n = 61) and at 9 months (n = 50), using multivariable and subsequent bivariate regression models.
Results:
The most robust statistically significant findings were positive associations among 3-month rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) ODI and caudal ACC NDI and concurrent NE, a positive association between 3-month lateral orbitofrontal cortex ODI and prospective NE, and a negative association between 3-month dorsolateral PFC ODI and concurrent PE. Multivariate models also revealed that other PFC subregional microstructure measures, as well as infant and caregiver sociodemographic and clinical factors, predicted infant 3- and 9-month NE and PE.
Conclusions:
Greater NDI and ODI, reflecting greater microstructural complexity, in PFC regions supporting salience perception (rostral ACC), decision making (lateral orbitofrontal cortex), action selection (caudal ACC), and attentional processes (dorsolateral PFC) might result in greater integration of these subregions with other neural networks and greater attention to salient negative external cues, thus higher NE and/or lower PE. These findings provide potential infant cortical markers of future psychopathology risk.
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