Mild early-life stress exaggerates the impact of acute stress on corticolimbic resting-state functional connectivity

Abundant evidence shows that early-life stress (ELS) predisposes for the development of stress-related psychopathology when exposed to stressors later in life, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. To study predisposing effects of mild ELS on stress sensitivity, we examined in a healthy human population the impact of a history of ELS on acute stress-related changes in corticolimbic circuits involved in emotional processing (i.e., amygdala, hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex [vmPFC]). Healthy young male participants (n = 120) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in two separate sessions (stress induction vs. control). The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) was administered to index self-reported ELS, and stress induction was verified using salivary cortisol, blood pressure, heart rate and subjective affect. Our findings show that self-reported ELS was negatively associated with baseline cortisol, but not with the acute stress-induced cortisol response. Critically, individuals with more self-reported ELS exhibited an exaggerated reduction of functional connectivity in corticolimbic circuits under acute stress. A mediation analysis showed that the association between ELS and stress-induced changes in amygdala-hippocampal connectivity became stronger when controlling for basal cortisol. Our findings show, in a healthy sample, that the effects of mild ELS on functioning of corticolimbic circuits only become apparent when exposed to an acute stressor and may be buffered by adaptations in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function. Overall, our findings might reveal a potential mechanism whereby even mild ELS might confer vulnerability to exposure to stressors later in adulthood.