Larger left hippocampal presubiculum is associated with lower risk of antisocial behavior in healthy adults with childhood conduct history

Abstract

Conduct Disorder (CD) is defined as aggressive, antisocial, and rule-breaking behavior during childhood. It is a major risk factor for developing antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) in adulthood. However, nearly half the CDs do not develop ASPD. Identification of reversion factors seems crucial for proper interventions. We identified 40 subjects with childhood history of CD (CC) and 1166 control subjects (HC) from Human Connectome Project. Their psychiatric, emotional, impulsivity, and personality traits were extracted. An emotion recognition task-fMRI analysis was done. We also did subregion analysis of hippocampus and amygdala in 35 CC and 69 demographically matched HCs. CC subjects scored significantly higher in antisocial-related evaluations. No differences in task-fMRI activation of amygdala and hippocampus were observed. CCs had larger subfields of the left hippocampus: presubiculum, CA3, CA4, and dentate gyrus. Further, an interaction model revealed a significant presubiculum volume × group association with antisocial, aggression, and agreeableness scores. Our study shows that healthy young adults with a prior history of CD still exhibit some forms of antisocial-like behavior with larger left hippocampal subfields, including presubiculum that also explains the variability in antisocial behavior. These larger left hippocampal subfield volumes may play a protective role against CD to ASPD conversion.

Figure 1

Left hippocampal subfields (A) and subnuclei of amygdala (B) in one of the subjects labeled on the T1 MRI scan. HATA: Hippocampo-amygdalar transition area, CA: Cornu Ammonis, GC-ML-DG: Granule cell and molecular layer of dentate gyrus, ML-HP: Molecular layer of hippocampus.

Figure 2

A boxplot showing significant left hippocampal subfield differences between two groups (all corrected p values < 0.05). CC: Childhood history of Conduct, HC: Healthy Controls, GC-ML-DG: Granule cell and molecular layer of dentate gyrus, CA: Cornu Ammonis.

Figure 3

Significant interaction model results that were between left hippocampal presubiculum and four behavioral variables. CC: Childhood history of Conduct, HC: Healthy Controls, ASR: Adult Self Report.