Puzzo, I;
Seunarine, K;
Sully, K;
Darekar, A;
Clark, C;
Sonuga-Barke, EJS;
Fairchild, G;
(2017)
Altered White-Matter Microstructure in Conduct Disorder Is Specifically Associated with Elevated Callous-Unemotional Traits.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
10.1007/s10802-017-0375-5.
(In press).
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Abstract
Adolescents with conduct disorder (CD) and elevated callous-unemotional (CU) traits have been reported to present with a more severe and persistent pattern of antisocial behaviour than those with low levels of CU traits. However, relatively few studies have investigated whether there are differences in brain structure between these subgroups.We acquired diffusion tensor imaging data and used tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) to compare adolescents with CD and high levels of CU traits (CD/CU+; n = 18, CD and low levels of CU traits (CD/CU-; n = 17) and healthy controls (HC; n = 32) on measures of fractional anisotropy (FA), axial (AD), radial (RD) and mean (MD) diffusivity. Compared to CD/CU- adolescents, those with CD/CU+ presented increased FA and reduced RD and MD (lower diffusivity) in several tracts including: body and splenium of the corpus callosum, right inferior longitudinal fasciculus, ILF; right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, IFOF; left superior longitudinal fasciculus, SLF; left cerebral peduncle, bilateral internal capsule, left superior and posterior corona radiata, bilateral thalamic radiation and left external capsule. In addition, relative to CD/CU- individuals, adolescents with CD/CU+ showed lower diffusivity (indexed by reduced RD and MD) in left uncinate fasciculus and bilateral fornix. Finally, relative to healthy controls, CD/CU+ individuals showed lower diffusivity (reduced RD) in the genu and body of the corpus callosum and left anterior corona radiata. These results suggest that CD/CU+ individuals present with white-matter microstructural abnormalities compared to both CD/CU- individuals and age-matched healthy controls. This finding is consistent with emerging evidence suggesting that CD/CU+ represents a distinct subtype of CD, and illustrates the importance of accounting for heterogeneity within CD populations.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Altered White-Matter Microstructure in Conduct Disorder Is Specifically Associated with Elevated Callous-Unemotional Traits |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10802-017-0375-5 |
| Publisher version: | http://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-017-0375-5 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author(s) 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
| Keywords: | Brain structure, Callous-unemotional traits, Conduct disorder, Diffusion tensor imaging, Structural connectivity |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Developmental Neurosciences Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10047483 |
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