Abstract #3380

Effective Connectivity of Resting State Networks in Patients Prenatally Exposed to Cocaine Shows Higher Emotional Arousal

Gopikrishna Deshpande¹, Priya Santhanam¹, Zhihao Li¹, George Andrew James¹, Claire D. Coles^2,3, Mary Ellen Lynch², Stephen Hamman⁴, Xiaoping P. Hu¹

¹Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; ²Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; ³Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Drug Exposure Clinic, Marcus Autism Center, Atlanta, GA, USA; ⁴Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

Previous research has led to the hypothesis that prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) alters emotional regulation. In this study, we evaluate Granger-based resting state effective connectivity in the emotional network in PCE subjects to examine the above hypothesis. We found interhemispheric connections between homologous areas in both PCE subjects and controls, but additional bidirectional connectivity between amygdala and parahippocampal gyrus in only PCE subjects. This supports the hypothesis of emotional dysregulation in PCE subjects, wherein disinhibition of emotional arousal affects other cognitive functions leading to behavioral impairments.