Decreased amygdala-sensorimotor connectivity mediates the association between prenatal stress and broad autism phenotype in young adults: Project Ice Storm

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of 32 mother-child dyads.

	Range	Mean ± SD
Mothers
Objective hardship	4.00 − 24.00	10.88 ± 4.14
Subjective distress	0 − 40.00	10.43 ± 10.89
Subjective distress (log-transformed)	0 − 3.71	1.91 ± 1.12
Cognitive appraisal	-1–1	0.16 ± 0.85
SES, n (%)
Middle class	9 (28.10)
Upper middle class	15 (46.90)
Upper class	8 (25.00)
Number of children, n (%)
0	9 (28.13)
1	13 (40.63)
2	5 (15.62)
3	4 (12.50)
4	1 (3.12)
Age at child’s birth (year)	20.23 − 41.17	30.68 ± 4.86
Young adults
Sex (F/M)	21/11
Gestational age at birth (week)	33.43 − 41.00	39.51 ± 1.36
Birth weight (g)	1850 − 4432	3506.16 ± 491.66
Age at scan (year)	18.10 − 19.62	18.75 ± 0.36
Full-Scale IQ^a	90 − 137	113.67 ± 11.14
Handedness (R/L)	29/3
In-scanner head motion (mm)	0.04 − 0.20	0.09 ± 0.04
BAPQ
Total score
Aloof Personality	1.33 − 4.73	2.95 ± 0.99
Pragmatic Language	1.00 − 4.33	2.30 ± 0.70
Rigid Personality	1.83 − 4.83	3.15 ± 0.78

BAPQ: Broad Autism Phenotype Questionanire; F: female; IQ: intelligence quotient; L: left; M: male; R: right; SD: standard deviation; SES: socioeconomic status.

^a IQ was assessed at 19 years of age using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale–Third Edition short form.

Figure 1. Amygdala functional connectivity network.

The top panel presents the left amygdala functional connectivity network; The bottom panel presents the right amygdala functional connectivity network. Clusters of positive functional connectivity are depicted in red and yellow colors. Clusters of negative functional connectivity are depicted in purple and blue colors.

Table 2. The amygdala functional connectivity network.

Left amygdala	Right amygdala
Emotional regulation network
Left/Right insula	Left/Right insula
Left frontal orbital cortex	Right frontal orbital cortex
Left frontal pole	Right frontal pole
Frontal medial cortex
	Left superior frontal gyrus
	Left/Right paracingulate gyrus
Sensory and perceptual network
Left/Right postcentral gyrus	Left/Right postcentral gyrus
Left/Right precentral gyrus	Left/Right precentral gyrus
Left/Right cuneus	Left/Right cuneus
Left/Right parietal operculum cortex	Left/Right parietal operculum cortex
Left/Right lateral occipital cortex
Left/Right accumbens	Right accumbens
Left/Right putamen	Left/Right putamen
Left/Right superior temporal gyrus	Left/Right superior temporal gyrus
Left/Right temporal fusiform cortex	Left/Right temporal fusiform cortex
Left/Right planum temporale	Left/Right planum temporale
Left inferior temporal gyrus
Left middle temporal gyrus	Left middle temporal gyrus
Posterior cingulate cortex	Posterior cingulate cortex
Precuneus
Left supramarginal gyrus	Left/Right supramarginal gyrus
Right supracalcarine cortex	Left/Right supracalcarine cortex
Brain stem	Brain stem
Left/Right cerebellum	Left/Right cerebellum
	Left/Right intracalcarine cortex
	Left/Right Heschl’s gyrus
	Right occipital pole
	Left lingual gyrus
Emotional memory network
Left/Right hippocampus	Left/Right hippocampus
Left/Right parahippocampal gyrus	Left/Right parahippocampal gyrus
Left/Right temporal poles	Left/Right temporal poles

Figure 2. Mediation effect of left amygdala-right postcentral rs-FC.

Path a presents the association between maternal objective hardship and left amygdala-right postcentral rs-FC. Path b presents the association between left amygdala-right postcentral rs-FC and pragmatic language impairment when controlling for objective hardship. Path c’ presents the association between maternal objective hardship and pragmatic language impairment when controlling for the rs-FC. rs-FC: resting-state functional connectivity.

Figure 3. Mediation effect of right amygdala-left precentral rs-FC.

Path a presents the association between maternal subjective distress and right amygdala-left precentral rs-FC. Path b presents the association between right amygdala-left precentral rs-FC and aloof personality when controlling for subjective distress. Path c’ presents the association between maternal subjective distress and aloof personality when controlling for the rs-FC. rs-FC: resting-state functional connectivity.