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Mapping cortical thickness in children with 22q11.2 deletions.

ABSTRACT: The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (velocardiofacial/DiGeorge syndrome, 22q11.2DS) involves cardiac and craniofacial anomalies, marked deficits in visuospatial cognition, and elevated rates of psychosis. Although the mechanism is unknown, characteristic brain alterations may predispose to development of psychosis and cognitive deficits in 22q11DS. We applied cortical pattern matching and new methods for measuring cortical thickness in millimeters to structural magnetic resonance images of 21 children with confirmed 22q11.2 deletions and 13 demographically matched healthy comparison subjects. Thickness was mapped at 65 536 homologous points, based on 3-dimensional distance from the cortical gray-white matter interface to the external gray-cerebrospinal fluid boundary. A pattern of regionally specific cortical thinning was observed in superior parietal cortices and right parietooccipital cortex, regions critical for visuospatial processing, and bilaterally in the most inferior portion of the inferior frontal gyrus (pars orbitalis), a key area for language development. Several of the 30 genes encoded in the deleted segment are highly expressed in the developing brain and known to affect early neuronal migration. These brain maps reveal how haploinsufficiency for such genes can affect cortical development and suggest a possible underlying pathophysiology of the neurobehavioral phenotype.

SUBMITTER: Bearden CE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2819929 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Mapping cortical thickness in children with 22q11.2 deletions.

Bearden Carrie E CE van Erp Theo G M TG Dutton Rebecca A RA Tran Helen H Zimmermann Lara L Sun Daqiang D Geaga Jennifer A JA Simon Tony J TJ Glahn David C DC Cannon Tyrone D TD Emanuel Beverly S BS Toga Arthur W AW Thompson Paul M PM

Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) 20061020 8

The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (velocardiofacial/DiGeorge syndrome, 22q11.2DS) involves cardiac and craniofacial anomalies, marked deficits in visuospatial cognition, and elevated rates of psychosis. Although the mechanism is unknown, characteristic brain alterations may predispose to development of psychosis and cognitive deficits in 22q11DS. We applied cortical pattern matching and new methods for measuring cortical thickness in millimeters to structural magnetic resonance images of 21 children ...[more]

PMID: 17056649

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Project description:Introduction22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) represents one of the largest known genetic risk factors for psychosis, yet the neurobiological mechanisms underlying symptom development are not well understood. Here we conducted a cross-sectional study of 22q11DS to decompose cortical volume into its constituent parts, cortical thickness (CT) and surface area (SA), which are believed to have distinct neurodevelopmental origins.MethodsHigh-resolution T1-weighted scans were collected on 65 participants (31 22q11DS, 34 demographically comparable typically developing controls, 10-25 years old). Measures of cortical volume, CT, and SA were extracted from regions of interest using the FreeSurfer image analysis suite. Group differences and age-related trajectories in these structures, as well as their association with psychotic symptomatology, were assessed.ResultsRelative to controls, 22q11DS participants showed bilateral volumetric reductions in the inferior temporal cortex, fusiform gyrus, anterior cingulate, superior parietal cortex, and cuneus, which were driven by decreased SA in these regions. 22q11DS participants also had increased volumes, driven by increased CT, in bilateral insula regions. 22q11DS youth had increased CT in frontal regions, particularly middle frontal and medial orbitofrontal cortices. A pattern of age-associated cortical thinning was observed in typically developing controls in brain regions associated with visual and sensory information-processing (i.e., left pericalcarine cortex and fusiform gyrus, right lingual and postcentral cortices). However, this relationship was disrupted in 22q11DS participants. Finally, correlational analyses revealed that increased CT in right medial orbitofrontal cortex was associated with increased positive symptom severity in 22q11DS.ConclusionDifferential disruptions of CT and SA in distinct cortical regions in 22q11DS may indicate abnormalities in distinct developmental neural processes. Further, neuroanatomic abnormalities in medial frontal brain structures disproportionately affected in idiopathic schizophrenia were associated with psychotic symptom severity in 22q11DS youth, suggesting that disrupted biological processes in these cortical regions may underlie development of psychotic symptoms, both in 22q11DS and in the broader population.

Dataset Information

Mapping cortical thickness in children with 22q11.2 deletions.

Publications

Mapping cortical thickness in children with 22q11.2 deletions.

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