Disentangling the effects of early caregiving experience and heritable factors on brain white matter development in rhesus monkeys.

ABSTRACT: Early social experiences, particularly maternal care, shape behavioral and physiological development in primates. Thus, it is not surprising that adverse caregiving, such as child maltreatment leads to a vast array of poor developmental outcomes, including increased risk for psychopathology across the lifespan. Studies of the underlying neurobiology of this risk have identified structural and functional alterations in cortico-limbic brain circuits that seem particularly sensitive to these early adverse experiences and are associated with anxiety and affective disorders. However, it is not understood how these neurobiological alterations unfold during development as it is very difficult to study these early phases in humans, where the effects of maltreatment experience cannot be disentangle

SUBMITTER: Howell BR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7179761 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature