Childhood family environment and μ-opioid receptor availability in vivo in adulthood
: Saarinen, Aino; Tuominen, Lauri; Puttonen, Sampsa; Raitakari, Olli; Keltikangas-Jarvinen, Liisa; Hietala, Jarmo
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
: LONDON
: 2025
: Neuropsychopharmacology
: Neuropsychopharmacology
: NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOL
: 6
: 0893-133X
: 1740-634X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-025-02059-6
: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-025-02059-6
: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/485082907
Animal studies have reported associations of early maternal separation with altered mu-opioid receptor function but data on humans are scarce. We now investigated whether childhood family environment is related to mu-opioid receptor availability in the human brain in adulthood. Healthy participants (n = 37-39 in the analyses) were recruited from the prospective population-based Young Finns Study (YFS) that started in 1980. Childhood family environment was evaluated in 1980, including scores for stress-prone life events, disadvantageous emotional family atmosphere, and adverse socioeconomic environment. We used positron emission tomography (PET) with radioligand [11C]carfentanil to measure mu-opioid receptor availability in adulthood. Age- and sex-adjusted analyses showed that exposure to stress-prone life events in childhood was related to lower mu-opioid receptor binding in the orbitofrontal cortex, hippocampus, putamen, amygdala, insula, thalamus, anterior cingulate cortex, and dorsal caudate in adulthood (when compared to participants not exposed to stress-prone life events). Unfavorable socioeconomic family environment or disadvantageous emotional family atmosphere was not associated with mu-opioid receptor availability in adulthood. In conclusion, exposure to environmental instability (i.e., to stress-prone life events below traumatic threshold) during early development is associated with dysregulation of the u-opioid receptor transmission in adulthood. The findings increase understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms involved in the associations between childhood adversities and adulthood mental disorders.
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This study was financially supported by Academy of Finland grants no. 116321 (to JH) and no. 363547 (to AS) and Turku University Hospital EVO grant no. P3848. Open Access funding provided by University of Helsinki (including Helsinki University Central Hospital).
