Poster No:
1736
Submission Type:
Late-Breaking Abstract Submission
Authors:
Yuliya Kovalchuk1,2, Sydney Schienbein1, Andrea Knop1, Martin Bauer1, Stephanie Spengler1, Michael Brecht3, John-Dylan Haynes1,3, Christine Heim1,4
Institutions:
1Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of FU and HU, Berlin, Germany, 2Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany, 3Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany, 4German Center for Mental Health, Berlin, Germany
First Author:
Yuliya Kovalchuk, M.Sc.
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of FU and HU|Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
Berlin, Germany|Leipzig, Germany
Co-Author(s):
Andrea Knop, Ph.D.
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of FU and HU
Berlin, Germany
Martin Bauer, M.Sc.
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of FU and HU
Berlin, Germany
John-Dylan Haynes, Ph.D.
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of FU and HU|Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience
Berlin, Germany|Berlin, Germany
Christine Heim, Ph.D.
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of FU and HU|German Center for Mental Health
Berlin, Germany|Berlin, Germany
Late Breaking Reviewer(s):
Sofie Valk
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
Leipzig, Saxony
Introduction:
There is substantial experience-dependent plasticity in the human brain. We previously identified reduced cortical thickness in the genital representation area of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) (Heim et al., 2013). Recent functional mapping studies suggest profound variability in the precise location of the genital representation field in adult women and demonstrated normative use-dependent plasticity depending on adult sexual frequency (Knop et al, 2022). Importantly, the previous study in survivors of CSA did not individually map the representation area and did not assess whether this structural change results from early developmental programming or lower sexual frequency in adulthood. This study aims to address these gaps.
Methods:
We individually mapped the genital cortex in N=128 of women with and without CSA exposure using a non-arousing sensory-tactile paradigm, as previously described (Knop et al 2022). Mean cortical thickness measure was extracted and calculated from the 10 most activated vertices in this region of interest for each woman. We then examined cortical thickness as a function of group using a one-way ANCOVA, while controlling for age and total intracranial volume. Lastly, we conducted a partial correlation between cortical thickness and sexual frequency over the past year, controlling for age, total cortical thickness and residualized years since sexual onset. Exploratory linear regression was applied to predict genital cortical thickness measures from the age of abuse onset.
Results:
The sensory-tactile paradigm consistently evoked focal neural activations in Brodmann areas 1, 2, and 3a/3b of S1. The success rate of individual localization in the genital representation field did not significantly differ between groups (Control group: 90%; CSA group: 86%). Preliminary analyses of the remaining data suggest that exposure to CSA has a long-term impact on cortical thickness of the individually-mapped genital cortex of S1 in adult women. Women with CSA exposure had significantly lower genital cortical thickness in the right hemisphere (F(1,101)=5.72, p=.02). A similar trend was observed in the left hemisphere (F(1,85)=1.42, p=.24), while importantly total cortical thickness measures did not differ between groups. In the left hemisphere, genital cortex thickness was more pronounced in women who experienced abuse at an earlier age (β=0.03, SE=0.01, t(40)=2.15 p=0.038). No significant relationship was found between cortical thickness of the individually-mapped genital field and the frequency of sexual activity in the past year for both groups (all p>0.05).
Conclusions:
These early results suggest that exposure to CSA has an impact on adult genital cortex structure, perhaps reflecting an adaptation to early developmentally inappropriate and aversive sensory exposure. This neurostructural change may be a substrate for sexual dysfunction later in life. Future studies should assess the functional implications of reduced genital field thickness and develop novel interventions to rehabilitate potential sensory dysfunction in these women.
Learning and Memory:
Neural Plasticity and Recovery of Function
Lifespan Development:
Early life, Adolescence, Aging
Neuroanatomy, Physiology, Metabolism and Neurotransmission:
Cortical Anatomy and Brain Mapping 1
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
Anatomical MRI
BOLD fMRI
Perception, Attention and Motor Behavior:
Perception: Tactile/Somatosensory 2
Keywords:
Development
MRI
Perception
Plasticity
Somatosensory
STRUCTURAL MRI
Touch
Trauma
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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Please indicate below if your study was a "resting state" or "task-activation” study.
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Healthy subjects only or patients (note that patient studies may also involve healthy subjects):
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Was this research conducted in the United States?
No
Were any human subjects research approved by the relevant Institutional Review Board or ethics panel?
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Please indicate which methods were used in your research:
Functional MRI
Structural MRI
Behavior
For human MRI, what field strength scanner do you use?
3.0T
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SPM
FSL
Other, Please list
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CAT12
Provide references using APA citation style.
1. Heim, C. M., Mayberg, H. S., Mletzko, T., Nemeroff, C. B., & Pruessner, J. C. (2013). Decreased Cortical Representation of Genital Somatosensory Field After Childhood Sexual Abuse. American Journal of Psychiatry, 170(6), 616–623. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.12070950
2. Knop, A. J. J., Spengler, S., Bogler, C., Forster, C., Brecht, M., Haynes, J.-D., & Heim, C. (2022). Sensory-Tactile Functional Mapping and Use-Associated Structural Variation of the Human Female Genital Representation Field. The Journal of Neuroscience, 42(6). https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1081-21.2021
3. Lenschow, C., Sigl-Glöckner, J., & Brecht, M. (2017). Development of rat female genital cortex and control of female puberty by sexual touch. PLOS Biology, 15(9), e2001283. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001283
The project is funded by NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – EXC 2049) intramural grant to Christine Heim and Michael Brecht as well as a stipend to Yuliya Kovalchuk from the Max Planck School of Cognition.
No