# Emotion Regulation Circuitries in Youth with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2020 · $656,539

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Psychiatric morbidity is one of the most common and socially disabling consequences in adults with mild
traumatic brain injury (mTBI), yet poorly studied in youth. According to the International Collaboration in mTBI
Prognosis, prediction of psychiatric morbidity in mTBI remains a challenge. Post-concussion symptoms are
highly aspecific and significantly overlap with psychiatric symptoms. In fact, depression, anxiety, mood lability,
and irritability are common after injury. Yet, a clear link between pathophysiologic mechanisms of mTBI and
the subsequent onset of post-TBI psychiatric symptoms remains unclear. This relationship is of utmost
importance in the study of developing brains, where brain lesions have the potential to mine the normative
development of neural circuitries involved in emotional regulation. An imbalance in fronto-temporo-limbic
systems has been proposed as a neural mechanism of emotional dysregulation in pediatric psychiatric
disorders. Yet, no study has examined the relationship between fronto-temporo-limbic lesions and the onset of
post-TBI psychiatric symptoms. The rational for the proposed research is that abnormalities in fronto-temporo-
limbic regions in youth with mTBI might represent the structural basis for the vulnerability of emotional
regulation circuitries, possibly leading to a heightened risk for post-TBI psychiatric morbidity. The objective of
this application is to use multimodal neuroimaging techniques to characterize the brain structure and functioning of
emotional regulation circuitries in 200 youth 1 week after injury. Five clinical assessments will define 1-year
trajectories of depressive symptoms, anxiety, mood lability and irritability in each participant. Based on the extant
literature and our preliminary findings, our overall hypothesis is that acute injury quantifiable with neuroimaging
measures of brain structure and functioning predates the onset and course of post-TBI psychiatric symptoms in
youth prospectively characterized for up to 1 year after injury. Specifically, this proposal aims to 1) examine if
mTBI-related lesions in fronto-temporo-limbic regions predict the severity of post-TBI psychiatric symptoms 3
weeks after injury. This proposal also aims to 2) identify demographic and clinical risk factors predicting 1-year
trajectories of post-TBI psychiatric symptoms. This approach is innovative because no study examined if mTBI-
related lesions in emotional regulation circuitries relate to the acute onset of post-TBI psychiatric symptoms in
youth with mTBI. The identification of 1-year trajectories of post-TBI psychiatric symptoms is also innovative
and will allow to examine if the combined use of neuroimaging measures and clinical risk factors can help
predict these symptoms up to 1-year after mTBI. Finally, by collecting a second scan in a subsample of youth
(n=100) 6 months after mTBI, we will examine if neuroimaging measures at 6-month, more than neuroimaging
measures at-injury, c...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9828635
- **Project number:** 5R01MH114881-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Anthony P Kontos
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $656,539
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-12-19 → 2022-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9828635

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9828635, Emotion Regulation Circuitries in Youth with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. (5R01MH114881-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9828635. Licensed CC0.

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