ArticleHuman brain mapping2018
Perinatal maternal depressive symptoms alter amygdala functional connectivity in girls.
Article in Human brain mapping, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Brain-based Sex Differences in Depression: A Systematic Review of Neuroimaging Studies.Brain imaging and behavior · 2023Pooled it
- Fetal programming of neuropsychiatric disorders by maternal pregnancy depression: a systematic mini review.Pediatric research · 2019Pooled it
- Perinatal maternal distress and neurobehavioural development in toddlers.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Postnatal distress, neonatal cerebellar myelination and neurodevelopmental outcomes at 18 months.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Neonatal amygdala microstructure and structural connectivity are associated with autistic traits at 2 years of age.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Science with Seymour Levine: on glucocorticoid action from birth to senescence.Neurobiology of stress · 2026Article
- Prenatal maternal psychological distress is associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes in toddlers with congenital heart disease.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Maternal Childhood Maltreatment, Development of Amygdala Volume, and Anxiety Symptoms in Offspring.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2026Article
- Pre- and postnatal maternal depressive symptoms associated with local connectivity of the left amygdala in 5-year-olds.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Article
- Perinatal Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Brain Connectivity Among 9- to 15-Year-Old Offspring.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Maternal depressive symptoms in childhood and offspring brain cortical and subcortical volumetric change: A repeated imaging study from age 4-10 years.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2025Article
- Higher amplitudes of visual networks are associated with trait- but not state-depression.Psychological medicine · 2024Article
- Brain structural and functional outcomes in the offspring of women experiencing psychological distress during pregnancy.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Review
- Examining the interaction between prenatal stress and polygenic risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder on brain growth in childhood: Findings from the DREAM BIG consortium.Developmental psychobiology · 2024Article
- The cortisol switch between vulnerability and resilience.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Review
- Maternal anxiety during pregnancy is associated with weaker prefrontal functional connectivity in adult offspring.Brain imaging and behavior · 2023Article
- Intergenerational Transmission of Maternal Childhood Maltreatment Prior to Birth: Effects on Human Fetal Amygdala Functional Connectivity.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2023Article
- Associations between mother's depressive symptoms during pregnancy and newborn's brain functional connectivity.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2023Article
- Postnatal maternal distress, infant subcortical brain macrostructure and emotional regulation.Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging · 2023Article
- Functional connectivity analysis of childhood depressive symptoms.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Perinatal maternal depressive symptoms influence brain development of offspring. Such effects are particularly notable in the amygdala, a key structure involved in emotional processes. This study investigated whether the functional organization of the amygdala varies as a function of pre- and postnatal maternal depressive symptoms. The amygdala functional network was assessed using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) in 128 children at age of 4.4 to 4.8 years. Maternal depressive symptoms were obtained at 26 weeks of gestation, 3 months, 1, 2, 3, and 4.5 years after delivery. Linear regression was used to examine associations between maternal depressive symptoms and the amygdala functional network. Prenatal maternal depressive symptoms were significantly associated with the functional connectivity between the amygdala and the cortico-striatal circuitry, especially the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), insula, subgenual anterior cingulate (ACC), temporal pole, and striatum. Interestingly, greater pre- than post-natal depressive symptoms were associated with lower functional connectivity of the left amygdala with the bilateral subgenual ACC and left caudate and with lower functional connectivity of the right amygdala with the left OFC, insula, and temporal pole. These findings were only observed in girls but not in boys. Early exposure to maternal depressive symptoms influenced the functional organization of the cortico-striato-amygdala circuitry, which is intrinsic to emotional perception and regulation in girls. This suggests its roles in the transgenerational transmission of vulnerability for socio-emotional problems and depression. Moreover, this study underscored the importance of gender-dependent developmental pathways in defining the neural circuitry that underlies the risk for depression.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.