Development of early diagnosis and pathology analysis system for attachment disorder

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H03106
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Childhood science (childhood environment science)
• Research Institution: University of Fukui
• Principal Investigator: TOMODA AKEMI 福井大学, 子どものこころの発達研究センター, 教授 (80244135)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): FUJISAWA TAKASHI 福井大学, 子どものこころの発達研究センター, 特命講師 (90434894) ; SHIMADA KOJI 福井大学, 子どものこころの発達研究センター, 特命助教 (00711128) ; TAKIGUCHI SHINICHIRO 福井大学, 学術研究院医学系部門(附属病院部), 特命助教 (70382926) ; MIZUNO YOSHIFUMI 福井大学, 学術研究院医学系部門(附属病院), 特命助教 (50756814)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 反応性愛着障害(RAD) / アタッチメント / ADHD / 脳画像解析 / ｆMRI / 線条体

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is a severe social functioning disorder associated with early childhood maltreatment, characterized by emotionally withdrawn-inhibited behavior. Previously, we reported RAD is associated with decreased ventral striatum activity during reward task. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been reported to enhance brain reward system in healthy adults. This study examined the neural effects of intranasal OT on reward processing in children and adolescents with RAD.
Twenty male children and adolescents with RAD and age- and gender-matched 28 typically developing (TD) individuals performed high and low monetary reward task during fMRI. The effects of intranasally administered OT were tested in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject, cross-over design.
We found that intranasal OT increased reward sensitivity in the striatum in RAD patients. These findings indicate that OT may promote reward processing and reward-related behavior in RAD.

Free Research Field

小児発達学、小児精神神経学、子ども学