About this srcd poster session

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Panel information
Panel 2. Biological Processes: Neuroscience and Genetics

Abstract

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Hormonal changes during puberty result in dramatic physical and psychological shifts in adolescence through direct effects on brain structure and function (Berenbaum et al., 2014). The amygdala is a critical brain region to focus on in adolescence given its role in social and emotional development. Furthermore, a growing body of human neuroimaging and animal research indicates that the amygdala contains androgen and estrogen receptors, plays a key role in regulating limbic responses to emotional stimuli, and is crucial for understanding sex differences in the prevalence of internalizing symptoms (Smiley et al., 2023; Serio et al., 2022). Elevated testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) levels have been positively associated with bilateral amygdala volume in both male and female adolescents (Vijayakumar et al., 2021), but negatively correlated with amygdala functional connectivity in adolescents (Spielberg et al., 2015; Barendse et al., 2018; Briean et al., 2021). However, existing studies predominantly focus on single-modality neuroimaging measures, leaving important gaps regarding our understanding of how child sex (assigned at birth) and sex hormone indices contribute to amygdala development more holistically.
This study aimed to investigate the relations between sex hormone levels and structural/functional amygdala indices as measured in early adolescence, and to determine whether these associations differ by child sex. Specifically, we examined the associations between sex hormones [testosterone (T) and DHEA in both sexes, and estradiol (E2) in females only] and amygdala volume, amygdala response to emotional faces, and task-based amygdala functional connectivity with frontal lobe regions. To do this, we leveraged baseline data from the ABCD neuroimaging and physical health dataset, comprising 11,878 participants aged 9-10 years (48% female, 52% male).
Preliminary analyses showed that higher testosterone levels are associated with heightened responses to emotional faces in females (ß=0.003, p=0.01), but not males. Similar with previous research, in forthcoming analyses we expect higher testosterone and DHEA levels would also be positively associated with amygdala volume but negatively associated with fronto-amygdala functional connectivity in both sexes. Estradiol levels in females is expected to positively correlate with amygdala volume and functional connectivity. We further hypothesized that hormones would be more predictive in females in this early-age sample, because females begin puberty before males. These findings provide a crucial baseline for future longitudinal research on sex differences in children’s endocrine, neural, and psychosocial development as they go through puberty.

Author information

Author	Role
Yiming Qian, University of California, Davis	Presenting author
Jeffery Fine, University of California, Davis	Non-presenting author
Sandra Taylor, University of California, Davis	Non-presenting author
Marjolein Barendse, Erasmus University Medical Center	Non-presenting author
Paula Ruttle, University of Oregon	Non-presenting author
Elizabeth Shirtcliff, University of Oregon	Non-presenting author
Johnna R. Swartz, University of California, Davis	Non-presenting author
Amanda Guyer, University of California, Davis	Non-presenting author

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