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Abstract #0170

Disrupted intra- and extra- amygdaloid effective connectivity in presence of early life stress

Karthik R Sreenivasan 1 , Merida M Grant 2 , Kimberly H Wood 3 , Muriah Wheelock 3 , Joshua R Shumen 3 , Richard C Shelton 2 , David C Knight 3 , and Gopikrishna Deshpande 1,4

1 AU MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States, 2 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States, 3 Department of Psychology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States, 4 Department of Psychology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States

Although we know that presence of early life stress (ELS) modulates amygdala activity, it is unclear if the amygdala connectivity is affected and which amygdala nuclei cause these differences. In this study we perform effective connectivity analysis of fMRI data obtained from healthy controls with and without history of ELS. The analysis showed increased connectivity from right central nucleus and also enhanced amygdala connectivity in participants exposed to ELS. Our results showed intra- and extra- amygdaloid connectivity disruptions in the presence of ELS which could play a major role in understanding disorders caused by altered fear circuitry.

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