Ventral striatum dysfunction in children and adolescents with reactive attachment disorder: functional MRI study

Shinichiro Takiguchi; Takashi X Fujisawa; Sakae Mizushima; Daisuke N Saito; Yuko Okamoto; Koji Shimada; Michiko Koizumi; Hirokazu Kumazaki; Minyoung Jung; Hirotaka Kosaka; Michio Hiratani; Yusei Ohshima; Martin H Teicher; Akemi Tomoda

doi:10.1192/bjpo.bp.115.001586

Ventral striatum dysfunction in children and adolescents with reactive attachment disorder: functional MRI study

BJPsych Open. 2015 Oct 14;1(2):121-128. doi: 10.1192/bjpo.bp.115.001586. eCollection 2015 Oct.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ , MD, Advanced Biomedical Sciences Course, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Fukui, Japan.
² , PhD, Division of Developmental Higher Brain Functions, United Graduate School of Child Development, and Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Fukui, Japan.
³ , MA, Division of Developmental Higher Brain Functions, United Graduate School of Child Development, and Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Fukui, Japan.
⁴ , PhD, Division of Developmental Higher Brain Functions, United Graduate School of Child Development, University of Fukui, Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, and Biomedical Imaging Research Center, University of Fukui, Fukui, Japan.
⁵ , PhD, Division of Developmental Higher Brain Functions, United Graduate School of Child Development, University of Fukui, Fukui, Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Fukui.
⁶ , PhD, Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Fukui, Japan.
⁷ , MD, Division of Developmental Higher Brain Functions, United Graduate School of Child Development, and Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Fukui, Japan.
⁸ , MD, PhD, Division of Developmental Higher Brain Functions, United Graduate School of Child Development, University of Fukui, Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, and Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Fukui, Japan.
⁹ , MD, PhD, Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Hiratani Clinic for Developmental Disorders of Children, Fukui, Japan.
¹⁰ , MD, PhD, Research Center for Child Mental Development, and Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Fukui, Japan.
¹¹ , MD, PhD, Developmental Biopsychiatry Research Program, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
¹² , MD, PhD, Division of Developmental Higher Brain Functions, United Graduate School of Child Development, and Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Fukui.

Abstract

Background: Child maltreatment is a major risk factor for psychopathology, including reactive attachment disorder (RAD).

Aims: To examine whether neural activity during reward processing was altered in children and adolescents with RAD.

Method: Sixteen children and adolescents with RAD and 20 typically developing (TD) individuals performed tasks with high and low monetary rewards while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Results: Significantly reduced activity in the caudate and nucleus accumbens was observed during the high monetary reward condition in the RAD group compared with the TD group (P=0.015, family-wise error-corrected cluster level). Significant negative correlations between bilateral striatal activity and avoidant attachment were observed in the RAD and TD groups.

Conclusions: Striatal neural reward activity in the RAD group was markedly decreased. The present results suggest that dopaminergic dysfunction occurs in the striatum of children and adolescents with RAD, leading towards potential future risks for psychopathology.

Declaration of interest: None.

Copyright and usage: © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2015. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.