Dataset Information

A longitudinal study: changes in cortical thickness and surface area during pubertal maturation.

ABSTRACT: Sex hormones have been shown to contribute to the organization and function of the brain during puberty and adolescence. Moreover, it has been suggested that distinct hormone changes in girls versus boys may contribute to the emergence of sex differences in internalizing and externalizing behavior during adolescence. In the current longitudinal study, the influence of within-subject changes in puberty (physical and hormonal) on cortical thickness and surface area was examined across a 2-year span, while controlling for age. Greater increases in Tanner Stage predicted less superior frontal thinning and decreases in precuneus surface area in both sexes. Significant Tanner Stage and sex interactions were also seen, with less right superior temporal thinning in girls but not boys, as well as greater decreases in the right bank of the superior temporal sulcus surface area in boys compared to girls. In addition, within-subject changes in testosterone over the 2-year follow-up period were found to relate to decreases in middle superior frontal surface area in boys, but increases in surface area in girls. Lastly, larger increases in estradiol in girls predicted greater middle temporal lobe thinning. These results show that within-subject physical and hormonal markers of puberty relate to region and sex-specific changes in cortical development across adolescence.

SUBMITTER: Herting MM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4368209 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

A longitudinal study: changes in cortical thickness and surface area during pubertal maturation.

Herting Megan M MM Gautam Prapti P Spielberg Jeffrey M JM Dahl Ronald E RE Sowell Elizabeth R ER

PloS one 20150320 3

Sex hormones have been shown to contribute to the organization and function of the brain during puberty and adolescence. Moreover, it has been suggested that distinct hormone changes in girls versus boys may contribute to the emergence of sex differences in internalizing and externalizing behavior during adolescence. In the current longitudinal study, the influence of within-subject changes in puberty (physical and hormonal) on cortical thickness and surface area was examined across a 2-year spa ...[more]

PMID: 25793383

Similar Datasets

Project description:Before we can assess and interpret how developmental changes in human brain structure relate to cognition, affect, and motivation, and how these processes are perturbed in clinical or at-risk populations, we must first precisely understand typical brain development and how changes in different structural components relate to each other. We conducted a multisample magnetic resonance imaging study to investigate the development of cortical volume, surface area, and thickness, as well as their inter-relationships, from late childhood to early adulthood (7-29 years) using four separate longitudinal samples including 388 participants and 854 total scans. These independent datasets were processed and quality-controlled using the same methods, but analyzed separately to study the replicability of the results across sample and image-acquisition characteristics. The results consistently showed widespread and regionally variable nonlinear decreases in cortical volume and thickness and comparably smaller steady decreases in surface area. Further, the dominant contributor to cortical volume reductions during adolescence was thinning. Finally, complex regional and topological patterns of associations between changes in surface area and thickness were observed. Positive relationships were seen in sulcal regions in prefrontal and temporal cortices, while negative relationships were seen mainly in gyral regions in more posterior cortices. Collectively, these results help resolve previous inconsistencies regarding the structural development of the cerebral cortex from childhood to adulthood, and provide novel insight into how changes in the different dimensions of the cortex in this period of life are inter-related.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Different measures of brain anatomy develop differently across adolescence. Their precise trajectories and how they relate to each other throughout development are important to know if we are to fully understand both typical development and disorders involving aberrant brain development. However, our understanding of such trajectories and relationships is still incomplete. To provide accurate characterizations of how different measures of cortical structure develop, we performed an MRI investigation across four independent datasets. The most profound anatomical change in the cortex during adolescence was thinning, with the largest decreases observed in the parietal lobe. There were complex regional patterns of associations between changes in surface area and thickness, with positive relationships seen in sulcal regions in prefrontal and temporal cortices, and negative relationships seen mainly in gyral regions in more posterior cortices.

Project description:ImportanceSchizophrenia is a complex heritable disorder associated with many genetic variants, each with a small effect. While cortical differences between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls are consistently reported, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive.ObjectiveTo investigate the extent of shared genetic architecture between schizophrenia and brain cortical surface area (SA) and thickness (TH) and to identify shared genomic loci.Design, setting, and participantsIndependent genome-wide association study data on schizophrenia (Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and CLOZUK: n = 105 318) and SA and TH (UK Biobank: n = 33 735) were obtained. The extent of polygenic overlap was investigated using MiXeR. The specific shared genomic loci were identified by conditional/conjunctional false discovery rate analysis and were further examined in 3 independent cohorts. Data were collected from December 2019 to February 2021, and data analysis was performed from May 2020 to February 2021.Main outcomes and measuresThe primary outcomes were estimated fractions of polygenic overlap between schizophrenia, total SA, and average TH and a list of functionally characterized shared genomic loci.ResultsBased on genome-wide association study data from 139 053 participants, MiXeR estimated schizophrenia to be more polygenic (9703 single-nucleotide variants [SNVs]) than total SA (2101 SNVs) and average TH (1363 SNVs). Most SNVs associated with total SA (1966 of 2101 [93.6%]) and average TH (1322 of 1363 [97.0%]) may be associated with the development of schizophrenia. Subsequent conjunctional false discovery rate analysis identified 44 and 23 schizophrenia risk loci shared with total SA and average TH, respectively. The SNV associations of shared loci between schizophrenia and total SA revealed en masse concordant association between the discovery and independent cohorts. After removing high linkage disequilibrium regions, such as the major histocompatibility complex region, the shared loci were enriched in immunologic signature gene sets. Polygenic overlap and shared loci between schizophrenia and schizophrenia-associated regions of interest for SA (superior frontal and middle temporal gyri) and for TH (superior temporal, inferior temporal, and superior frontal gyri) were also identified.Conclusions and relevanceThis study demonstrated shared genetic loci between cortical morphometry and schizophrenia, among which a subset are associated with immunity. These findings provide an insight into the complex genetic architecture and associated with schizophrenia.

Dataset Information

A longitudinal study: changes in cortical thickness and surface area during pubertal maturation.

Publications

A longitudinal study: changes in cortical thickness and surface area during pubertal maturation.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets