Long term impacts of early social environment on chimpanzee white matter

Abstract Early adverse rearing conditions are known to have deleterious consequences on social behavior, cognition, and brain development of both human and nonhuman primates. We analyzed archival diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data from mother- (MR) or nursery-reared (NR) chimpanzees and used suppor...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Michele M. Mulholland, Erin Hecht, Michael J. Wesley, William D. Hopkins
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2024-12-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-81238-9
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850136549491998720
author Michele M. Mulholland
Erin Hecht
Michael J. Wesley
William D. Hopkins
author_facet Michele M. Mulholland
Erin Hecht
Michael J. Wesley
William D. Hopkins
author_sort Michele M. Mulholland
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Early adverse rearing conditions are known to have deleterious consequences on social behavior, cognition, and brain development of both human and nonhuman primates. We analyzed archival diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data from mother- (MR) or nursery-reared (NR) chimpanzees and used support vector machine learning to determine whether we could retrospectively classify chimpanzees as MR or NR based on white matter fractional anisotropy (FA) decades after their rearing experiences. A significant proportion of chimpanzees were correctly classified as MR and NR based on white matter fractional anisotropy (76.32%; p = 0.004). Voxel-based morphometry revealed that MR chimpanzees had increased FA in the splenium/isthmus of the corpus collosum and premotor cortex, while NR chimpanzees had increased FA in the thalamic region, cuneus, and lateral genu of the corpus collosum (p < 0.01). A subset of the NR chimpanzees participated in early social interventions, but unlike gray matter, these interventions do not explain misclassification based on white matter. These findings suggest that nursery rearing has long-term effects on both gray and white matter, but that early interventions may ameliorate the effects on gray matter only. Future research should investigate the effectiveness and relative contributions of combined social, cognitive, and nutritional interventions on brain development in nonhuman primates.
format Article
id doaj-art-8cb1b6622e88481ebf75a12c6c14c7d2
institution OA Journals
issn 2045-2322
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
record_format Article
series Scientific Reports
spelling doaj-art-8cb1b6622e88481ebf75a12c6c14c7d22025-08-20T02:31:04ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-12-011411810.1038/s41598-024-81238-9Long term impacts of early social environment on chimpanzee white matterMichele M. Mulholland0Erin Hecht1Michael J. Wesley2William D. Hopkins3Department of Comparative Medicine, Michale E Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer CenterDepartment of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard UniversityDepartment of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky College of MedicineDepartment of Comparative Medicine, Michale E Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer CenterAbstract Early adverse rearing conditions are known to have deleterious consequences on social behavior, cognition, and brain development of both human and nonhuman primates. We analyzed archival diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data from mother- (MR) or nursery-reared (NR) chimpanzees and used support vector machine learning to determine whether we could retrospectively classify chimpanzees as MR or NR based on white matter fractional anisotropy (FA) decades after their rearing experiences. A significant proportion of chimpanzees were correctly classified as MR and NR based on white matter fractional anisotropy (76.32%; p = 0.004). Voxel-based morphometry revealed that MR chimpanzees had increased FA in the splenium/isthmus of the corpus collosum and premotor cortex, while NR chimpanzees had increased FA in the thalamic region, cuneus, and lateral genu of the corpus collosum (p < 0.01). A subset of the NR chimpanzees participated in early social interventions, but unlike gray matter, these interventions do not explain misclassification based on white matter. These findings suggest that nursery rearing has long-term effects on both gray and white matter, but that early interventions may ameliorate the effects on gray matter only. Future research should investigate the effectiveness and relative contributions of combined social, cognitive, and nutritional interventions on brain development in nonhuman primates.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-81238-9Adverse rearingBrain developmentWhite matterChimpanzeesMachine learning
spellingShingle Michele M. Mulholland
Erin Hecht
Michael J. Wesley
William D. Hopkins
Long term impacts of early social environment on chimpanzee white matter
Scientific Reports
Adverse rearing
Brain development
White matter
Chimpanzees
Machine learning
title Long term impacts of early social environment on chimpanzee white matter
title_full Long term impacts of early social environment on chimpanzee white matter
title_fullStr Long term impacts of early social environment on chimpanzee white matter
title_full_unstemmed Long term impacts of early social environment on chimpanzee white matter
title_short Long term impacts of early social environment on chimpanzee white matter
title_sort long term impacts of early social environment on chimpanzee white matter
topic Adverse rearing
Brain development
White matter
Chimpanzees
Machine learning
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-81238-9
work_keys_str_mv AT michelemmulholland longtermimpactsofearlysocialenvironmentonchimpanzeewhitematter
AT erinhecht longtermimpactsofearlysocialenvironmentonchimpanzeewhitematter
AT michaeljwesley longtermimpactsofearlysocialenvironmentonchimpanzeewhitematter
AT williamdhopkins longtermimpactsofearlysocialenvironmentonchimpanzeewhitematter