Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Jun;66(6):658-65.
doi: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.52.

Early-life stress induces long-term morphologic changes in primate brain

Simona Spinelli  1 , Svetlana Chefer, Stephen J Suomi, J Dee Higley, Christina S Barr, Elliot Stein
Affiliations

Early-life stress induces long-term morphologic changes in primate brain

Simona Spinelli et al. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009 Jun.

Abstract

Context: Traumatic experiences in early childhood are associated with increased risk of developing stress-related disorders, which are linked to structural brain abnormalities. However, it is unclear whether these volumetric brain changes are present before disease onset or reflect the consequences of disease progression.

Objective: To identify structural abnormalities in the nonhuman primate brain that may predict increased risk of stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders in human beings.

Design: Rhesus monkeys were divided into 2 groups at birth: a group raised with their mothers and other juvenile and adult animals (mother reared) and a group raised with 3 age-matched monkeys only (peer reared) for the first 6 months of life. Anatomical brain images were acquired in juvenile male and female rhesus monkeys using magnetic resonance imaging.

Setting: National Institutes of Health Animal Center in Poolesville, Maryland. Subjects Twenty-eight rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) aged 24 to 30 months were used for the study.

Main outcome measures: Volumetric measures of the anterior cingulate cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, corpus callosum, and cerebellar vermis were compared between mother-reared (n = 15) and peer-reared animals (n = 13).

Results: Compared with mother-reared monkeys, we found an enlarged vermis, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in peer-reared monkeys without any apparent differences in the corpus callosum and hippocampus.

Conclusions: Peer-rearing during infancy induces enlargement in stress-sensitive brain regions. These changes may be a structural phenotype for increased risk of stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders in human beings.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Representative T1-weighted magnetic resonance images of two-year old rhesus monkeys to illustrate the ROI boundaries use to trace regional volumes. CingC, (a) sagittal and (b) coronal views, respectively. The vertical dashed line on the sagittal view indicates the division of the CingC into dACC and PCC. PFC(c) and mPFC (d), coronal view. Dashed line on (g) indicates the ventral boundary for the DmPFC. Anterior (e) and posterior (f) slices of HC, coronal view. CC (g) and CB-V (h), sagittal view. Right site – orange tracing line; left site - blue tracing line.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cortisol (a) and 5-HIAA (b) scatter plots of individual subjects in the MR and PR group, with means plotted as horizontal lines.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. De Bellis MD. The psychobiology of neglect. Child Maltreat. 2005;10(2):150–172. - PubMed
    1. Teicher MH, Andersen SL, Polcari A, Anderson CM, Navalta CP, Kim DM. The neurobiological consequences of early stress and childhood maltreatment. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2003;27(1-2):33–44. - PubMed
    1. Cohen RA, Grieve S, Hoth KF, Paul RH, Sweet L, Tate D, Gunstad J, Stroud L, McCaffery J, Hitsman B, Niaura R, Clark CR, McFarlane A, Bryant R, Gordon E, Williams LM. Early life stress and morphometry of the adult anterior cingulate cortex and caudate nuclei. Biol Psychiatry. 2006;59(10):975–982. - PubMed
    1. Teicher MH, Dumont NL, Ito Y, Vaituzis C, Giedd JN, Andersen SL. Childhood neglect is associated with reduced corpus callosum area. Biol Psychiatry. 2004;56(2):80–85. - PubMed
    1. De Bellis MD, Keshavan MS, Shifflett H, Iyengar S, Beers SR, Hall J, Moritz G. Brain structures in pediatric maltreatment-related posttraumatic stress disorder: a sociodemographically matched study. Biol Psychiatry. 2002;52(11):1066–1078. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms