Brain structure abnormalities in adolescent girls with conduct disorder

Graeme Fairchild,Ian M Goodyer,Andrew J Calder,Nicholas D Walsh,Luca Passamonti,Cindy C Hagan

doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2012.02617.x

Abstract

BackgroundConduct disorder (CD) in female adolescents is associated with a range of negative outcomes, including teenage pregnancy and antisocial personality disorder. Although recent studies have documented changes in brain structure and function in male adolescents with CD, there have been no neuroimaging studies of female adolescents with CD. Our primary objective was to investigate whether female adolescents with CD show changes in grey matter volume. Our secondary aim was to assess for sex differences in the relationship between CD and brain structure.MethodsFemale adolescents with CD (n = 22) and healthy control participants matched in age, performance IQ and handedness (n = 20) underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging. Group comparisons of grey matter volume were performed using voxel-based morphometry. We also tested for sex differences using archive data obtained from male CD and control participants.ResultsFemale adolescents with CD showed reduced bilateral anterior insula and right striatal grey matter volumes compared with healthy controls. Aggressive CD symptoms were negatively correlated with right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex volume, whereas callous-unemotional traits were positively correlated with bilateral orbitofrontal cortex volume. The sex differences analyses revealed a main effect of diagnosis on right amygdala volume (reflecting reduced amygdala volume in the combined CD group relative to controls) and sex-by-diagnosis interactions in bilateral anterior insula.ConclusionsWe observed structural abnormalities in brain regions involved in emotion processing, reward and empathy in female adolescents with CD, which broadly overlap with those reported in previous studies of CD in male adolescents.

Highlights

There are marked sex differences in the prevalence of antisocial behaviour, with male adolescents being more likely than female adolescents to commit violent crimes or meet diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder (Moffitt, Caspi, Rutter, & Silva, 2001)
There is some evidence for sex differences in the relationship between psychophysiological measures and aggressive behaviour (Beauchaine, Hong, & Marsh, 2008) or psychopathic traits (Isen et al, 2010), there are reasons to suspect that male adolescents and female adolescents with Conduct disorder (CD) may show similar abnormalities in brain structure and function
This study demonstrates that female adolescents with CD show reduced anterior insula and striatal grey matter volume

Summary

Introduction

There are marked sex differences in the prevalence of antisocial behaviour, with male adolescents being more likely than female adolescents to commit violent crimes or meet diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder (Moffitt, Caspi, Rutter, & Silva, 2001). There is some evidence for sex differences in the relationship between psychophysiological measures and aggressive behaviour (Beauchaine, Hong, & Marsh, 2008) or psychopathic traits (Isen et al, 2010), there are reasons to suspect that male adolescents and female adolescents with CD may show similar abnormalities in brain structure and function. Both male adolescents and female adolescents with CD show reduced basal cortisol levels (McBurnett, Lahey, Rathouz, & Loeber, 2000; Pajer, Gardner, Rubin, Perel, & Neal, 2001), which is of interest because the amygdala is involved in regulating hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal axis activity (Gunnar & Quevedo, 2007).

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