Brittany R Howell, Kai M McCormack, Alison P Grand, Nikki T Sawyer, Xiaodong Zhang, Dario Maestripieri, Xiaoping Hu, Mar M Sanchez
BACKGROUND: Early adverse experiences, especially those involving disruption of the mother-infant relationship, are detrimental for proper socioemotional development in primates. Humans with histories of childhood maltreatment are at high risk for developing psychopathologies including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and behavioral disorders. However, the underlying neurodevelopmental alterations are not well understood. Here we used a nonhuman primate animal model of infant maltreatment to study the long-term effects of this early life stress on brain white matter integrity during adolescence, its behavioral correlates, and the relationship with early levels of stress hormones...
December 2, 2013: Biology of Mood & Anxiety Disorders