Early life stress impairs brain and mental development during childhood increasing the risk of developing psychiatric disorders

Nanako Nakama; Noriyoshi Usui; Miyuki Doi; Shoichi Shimada

doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2023.110783

Early life stress impairs brain and mental development during childhood increasing the risk of developing psychiatric disorders

Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2023 Aug 30:126:110783. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2023.110783. Epub 2023 May 4.

Authors

Nanako Nakama¹, Noriyoshi Usui², Miyuki Doi³, Shoichi Shimada⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan.
² Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan; CoMIT Omics Center, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan; United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Global Center for Medical Engineering and Informatics, Osaka University, Suita, 565-0871, Japan; Addiction Research Unit, Osaka Psychiatric Research Center, Osaka Psychiatric Medical Center, Osaka 541-8567, Japan; Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Fukui 910-1193, Japan. Electronic address: usui@anat1.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.
³ Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Addiction Research Unit, Osaka Psychiatric Research Center, Osaka Psychiatric Medical Center, Osaka 541-8567, Japan.
⁴ Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan; United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan; Global Center for Medical Engineering and Informatics, Osaka University, Suita, 565-0871, Japan; Addiction Research Unit, Osaka Psychiatric Research Center, Osaka Psychiatric Medical Center, Osaka 541-8567, Japan.

PMID: 37149280
DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2023.110783

Abstract

In recent years, it has become known that stress in childhood, called early life stress (ELS), affects the mental health of children, adolescents, and adults. Child maltreatment (CM) is an inappropriate form of childcare that interferes with children's normal brain and mind development. Previous studies have reported that CM severely affects brain development and function. For example, ELS causes brain vulnerability and increases the risk of developing psychiatric disorders. In addition, it is known that the different types and timing of abuse have different effects on the brain. Epidemiological and clinical studies are being conducted to understand the mechanism underlying abuse on a child's mental health and appropriate brain development; however, they are not fully understood. Therefore, studies using animal models, as well as humans, have been conducted to better understand the effects of CM. In this review, we discuss the effects of comparing previous findings on different types of CM in human and animal models. However, it should be noted that there are differences between animal models and humans such as genetic polymorphism and susceptibility to stress. Our review provides the latest insights into the negative effects of CM on children's development and on psychiatric disorders in adulthood.

Keywords: Anxiety; Attachment disorder; Child maltreatment; Depression; Neglect.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Adverse Childhood Experiences*
Brain
Child
Child Abuse* / psychology
Humans
Mental Disorders* / epidemiology
Mental Disorders* / etiology
Mental Disorders* / psychology
Mental Health