# Investigating the effects of early life adversity on the developmental trajectory of avoidance circuitry

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2024 · $44,308

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Early life adversity (ELA), such as neglect or maltreatment in childhood, is a major risk factor for the development
of psychiatric disorders later in life. ELA heightens responses to threats, usually at the expense of rewarding
behaviors. Excessive threat avoidance is a hallmark of anxiety, phobias, and depression. Circuits that process
both rewards and threats, including the basolateral amygdala (BLA), are known to be dysregulated by ELA and
have been implicated in the pathophysiology of these conditions. These circuits mature throughout early life and
into early adulthood. This extended window of development, when paired with enhanced exploration in
adolescence, facilitates refinement of neural circuits underlying nuanced behavioral strategies needed
throughout life. Salient experiences, such as ELA, are encoded in groups of coactive neuronal ensembles
throughout the brain and have the capability to impact circuit organization. Although symptoms of psychiatric
disorders often manifest in adolescence, most studies focus on adult outcomes of ELA. As a result, the biological
mechanisms connecting ELA to enhanced threat avoidance later in life remain largely unknown. This proposal
aims to bridge this gap by determining how ELA-sensitive cells within the BLA drive brain-wide circuit
reorganization underlying enhanced avoidance behavior in adolescent mice. My central hypothesis will be tested
in two aims. Experiments in Aim 1 will reveal the endogenous activity of ELA-sensitive ensembles in the BLA
during threat avoidance behavior and map their brain-wide connectivity. Experiments in Aim 2 will identify
sensitive windows during development when ELA-sensitive neurons alter developmental circuit trajectories,
leading to increased avoidance. I will gain extensive training in the neurobiology of ELA and application of
systems neuroscience approaches including activity-dependent genetic labeling, chemogenetics and whole
brain circuit mapping to the developing brain. This research will illuminate how early experiences can alter the
trajectory of postnatal brain development and identify sensitive windows and targets for circuit-level therapeutics
that can be used to prevent or treat mental health disorders in at-risk populations.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10997976
- **Project number:** 1F31MH138135-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Caitlin Goodpaster
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $44,308
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-07-01 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10997976

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10997976, Investigating the effects of early life adversity on the developmental trajectory of avoidance circuitry (1F31MH138135-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10997976. Licensed CC0.

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