Association between stressful life events and grey matter volume in the medial prefrontal cortex: A 2-year longitudinal study

Stressful life events (SLEs) in adulthood are a risk factor for various disorders such asdepression, cancer or infections. Part of this risk is mediated through pathways alter-ing brain physiology and structure. There is a lack of longitudinal studies examiningassociations between SLEs and brain str...

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Main Authors: Ringwald, Kai G., Pfarr, Julia-Katharina, Stein, Frederike, Brosch, Katharina, Meller, Tina, Thomas-Odenthal, Florian, Meinert, Susanne, Waltemate, Lena, Breuer, Fabian, Winter, Alexandra, Lemke, Hannah, Grotegerd, Dominik, Thiel, Katharina, Bauer, Jochen, Hahn, Tim, Jansen, Andreas, Dannlowski, Udo, Krug, Axel, Nenadic, Igor, Kircher, Tilo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Philipps-Universität Marburg 2022
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Summary:Stressful life events (SLEs) in adulthood are a risk factor for various disorders such asdepression, cancer or infections. Part of this risk is mediated through pathways alter-ing brain physiology and structure. There is a lack of longitudinal studies examiningassociations between SLEs and brain structural changes. High-resolution structuralmagnetic resonance imaging data of 212 healthy subjects were acquired at baselineand after 2 years. Voxel-based morphometry was used to identify associationsbetween SLEs using the Life Events Questionnaire and grey matter volume (GMV)changes during the 2-year period in an ROI approach. Furthermore, we assessedadverse childhood experiences as a possible moderator of SLEs-GMV change associ-ations. SLEs were negatively associated with GMV changes in the left medial prefron-tal cortex. This association was stronger when subjects had experienced adversechildhood experiences. The medial prefrontal cortex has previously been associatedwith stress-related disorders. The present findings represent a potential neural basisof the diathesis-stress model of various disorders.
Item Description:Gefördert durch den Open-Access-Publikationsfonds der UB Marburg.
Physical Description:8 Pages
DOI:10.1002/hbm.25869