Interaction between hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis genetic variation and maternal behavior in the prediction of amygdala connectivity in children

E Pozzi; CA Bousman; JG Simmons; N Vijayakumar; O Schwartz; M Seal; MBH Yap; NB Allen; SL Whittle

Journal article

Interaction between hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis genetic variation and maternal behavior in the prediction of amygdala connectivity in children

E Pozzi, CA Bousman, JG Simmons, N Vijayakumar, O Schwartz, M Seal, MBH Yap, NB Allen, SL Whittle

Neuroimage | ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE | Published : 2019

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.05.013

Abstract

High levels of negative, and low levels of positive parenting behaviors can increase the risk of internalizing symptoms in children, but the mechanisms underlying this association are still unclear. One possibility is that parenting behaviors affect the neural correlates of emotion processing in children. Further, genetic variants relevant to the function of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA)axis are thought to moderate the effect of early experiences on the brain circuits underlying emotion processing, particularly those involving the amygdala. However, no studies have investigated the interactive effect of parenting behaviors and HPA axis-related genes on amygdala activity and connec..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Elena Pozzi Author

Julian Simmons Author

Nandita Vijayakumar Author

Orli Schwartz Author

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Grants

Awarded by University of Calgary

Funding Acknowledgements

This study was funded by a Discovery Project grant from the Australian Research Council (ARC; DP130103551). Ms. Pozzi was supported by a Melbourne International Research Scholarship. Dr. Bousman was supported by the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Foundation and the University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine. Dr. Whittle was supported by an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (1007716). Dr. Seal was supported by the Royal Children's Hospital Foundation. The authors report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.