TY - JOUR
T1 - Anatomy of the dorsal default-mode network in conduct disorder
T2 - Association with callous-unemotional traits
AU - Sethi, Arjun
AU - Sarkar, Sagari
AU - Dell'Acqua, Flavio
AU - Viding, Essi
AU - Catani, Marco
AU - Murphy, Declan G M
AU - Craig, Michael C
N1 - Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/4/28
Y1 - 2018/4/28
N2 - We recently reported that emotional detachment in adult psychopathy was associated with structural abnormalities in the dorsal 'default-mode' network (DMN). However, it is unclear whether these differences are present in young people at risk of psychopathy. The most widely recognised group at risk for psychopathy are children/adolescents with conduct disorder (CD) and callous-unemotional (CU) traits. We therefore examined the microstructure of the dorsal DMN in 27 CD youths (14-with/13-without CU traits) compared to 16 typically developing controls using DTI tractography. Both CD groups had significantly (p < 0.025) reduced dorsal DMN radial diffusivity compared to controls. In those with diagnostically significant CU traits, exploratory analyses (uncorrected for multiple comparisons) suggested that radial diffusivity was negatively correlated with CU severity (Left: rho = -0.68, p = 0.015). These results suggest that CD youths have microstructural abnormalities in the same network as adults with psychopathy. Further, the association with childhood/adolescent measures of emotional detachment (CU traits) resembles the relationship between emotional detachment and network microstructure in adult psychopaths. However, these changes appear to occur in opposite directions - with increased myelination in adolescent CD but reduced integrity in adult psychopathy. Collectively, these findings suggest that developmental abnormalities in dorsal DMN may play a role in the emergence of psychopathy.
AB - We recently reported that emotional detachment in adult psychopathy was associated with structural abnormalities in the dorsal 'default-mode' network (DMN). However, it is unclear whether these differences are present in young people at risk of psychopathy. The most widely recognised group at risk for psychopathy are children/adolescents with conduct disorder (CD) and callous-unemotional (CU) traits. We therefore examined the microstructure of the dorsal DMN in 27 CD youths (14-with/13-without CU traits) compared to 16 typically developing controls using DTI tractography. Both CD groups had significantly (p < 0.025) reduced dorsal DMN radial diffusivity compared to controls. In those with diagnostically significant CU traits, exploratory analyses (uncorrected for multiple comparisons) suggested that radial diffusivity was negatively correlated with CU severity (Left: rho = -0.68, p = 0.015). These results suggest that CD youths have microstructural abnormalities in the same network as adults with psychopathy. Further, the association with childhood/adolescent measures of emotional detachment (CU traits) resembles the relationship between emotional detachment and network microstructure in adult psychopaths. However, these changes appear to occur in opposite directions - with increased myelination in adolescent CD but reduced integrity in adult psychopathy. Collectively, these findings suggest that developmental abnormalities in dorsal DMN may play a role in the emergence of psychopathy.
KW - Adolescent
KW - Affective Symptoms/diagnostic imaging
KW - Child
KW - Conduct Disorder/diagnostic imaging
KW - Diffusion Tensor Imaging/methods
KW - Gyrus Cinguli/anatomy & histology
KW - Humans
KW - Male
KW - Nerve Net/anatomy & histology
U2 - 10.1016/j.dcn.2018.01.004
DO - 10.1016/j.dcn.2018.01.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 29413533
SN - 1878-9293
VL - 30
SP - 87
EP - 92
JO - Developmental cognitive neuroscience
JF - Developmental cognitive neuroscience
ER -