Researchers from New York and California recently used MRI to determine prenatal exposure to commonly used antidepressant in pregnant women is associated with impacted fetal brain development—particularly in areas crucial to emotions.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medications have increased among pregnant women, according to an April 9 online study in JAMA Pediatrics. While animal studies show perinatal SSRI exposure alters motor development, pain sensitivity, rates of depression and more, little is known about the association between exposure and human fetal development.
In this study, MRI or diffusion-weighted images of 98 infants were obtained at Columbia University Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute. Of the group, 16 infants had utero SSRI exposure, 21 had utero untreated maternal depression exposure and 61 were considered healthy controls.
Results indicated significant gray matter volume expansion in the right amygdala and right insula in SSRI-exposed infants compared to the healthy control group and infants exposed to untreated maternal depression.
Similarly, in connectome-level analysis of white matter structural connectivity, the SSRI group demonstrated a significant increase in connectivity between the right amygdala and the right insula with a large effect size compared to the other two infant groups.
“Our findings suggest a potential association between prenatal SSRI exposure, likely via aberrant serotonin signaling, and the development of the amygdala-insula circuit in the fetal brain,” wrote co-first authors Claudia Lugo-Candelas, PhD and Jiook Cha, PhD, both with the department of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, and colleagues.
The authors point to evidence suggesting abnormalities in the amygdala-insula circuitry have been associated with depression, anxiety disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder.
They also cite evidence that suggests amygdala-insula hyperactivity has been found in people at risk, but who did not quite meet the criteria for anxiety disorders. Both factors point to potential problems during fetal development.
“Taken together, the structurally primed circuit in the infant brains could lead to maladaptive fear processing in their later life, such as generalization of conditioned fear or negative attention bias” Lugo-Candelas and Cha et al. wrote.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.