Gradients in parental socioeconomic status (SES) are closely linked to important life outcomes in children and adolescents, such as cognitive abilities, school achievement, and mental health. Parental SES may also influence brain development, with several magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies reporting associations with youth brain morphometry. However, MRI signal intensity metrics have not been assessed, but could offer a microstructural correlate, thereby increasing our understanding of SES influences on neurobiology. We computed a parental SES score from family income, parental education and parental occupation, and assessed relations with cortical microstructure as measured by T1w/T2w ratio (n= 504, age=3-21 years). We found negative age-stabile relations between parental SES and T1w/T2w ratio, indicating that youths from lower SES families have higher ratio in widespread frontal, temporal, medial parietal and occipital regions, possibly indicating a more developed cortex. Effect sizes were small, but larger than for conventional morphometric properties i.e. cortical surface area and thickness, which were not significantly associated with parental SES. Youths from lower SES families had poorer language related abilities, but microstructural differences did not mediate these relations. T1w/T2w ratio appears to be a sensitive imaging marker for further exploring the association between parental SES and child brain development.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are neurodevelopmental conditions that share genetic etiology and frequently co-occur. Given this comorbidity and well-established clinical heterogeneity, identifying individuals with similar brain signatures may be valuable for predicting clinical outcomes and tailoring treatment strategies. Cortical myelination is a prominent developmental process, and its disruption is a candidate mechanism for both disorders. Yet, no studies have attempted to identify subtypes using T1w/T2w-ratio, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based proxy for intracortical myelin. Moreover, cortical variability arises from numerous biological pathways, and multimodal approaches can integrate cortical metrics into a single network. We analyzed data from 310 individuals aged 2.6-23.6 years, obtained from the Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental (POND) Network consisting of individuals diagnosed with ASD (n = 136), ADHD (n = 100), and typically developing (TD) individuals (n = 74). We first tested for differences in T1w/T2w-ratio between diagnostic categories and controls. We then performed unimodal (T1w/T2w-ratio) and multimodal (T1w/T2w-ratio, cortical thickness, and surface area) spectral clustering to identify diagnostic-blind subgroups. Linear models revealed no statistically significant case-control differences in T1w/T2w-ratio. Unimodal clustering mostly isolated single individual- or minority clusters, driven by image quality and intensity outliers. Multimodal clustering suggested three distinct subgroups, which transcended diagnostic boundaries, showing separate cortical patterns but similar clinical and cognitive profiles. T1w/T2w-ratio features were the most relevant for demarcation, followed by surface area. While our analysis revealed no significant case-control differences, multimodal clustering incorporating the T1w/T2w-ratio among cortical features holds promise for identifying biologically similar subsets of individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions.
Parental mental health is associated with children's emotion regulation (ER) and risk for psychopathology. The relationship between parental psychopathology and children's functional ER networks and whether connectivity patterns mediate the relationship between parent and youth psychopathology remains unexplored. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (N = 4202, mean age = 10.0) and a multilevel approach, we analyzed the relationship between self-reported parental psychopathology and their offsprings' connectivity of four ER networks, as well as associations with self-reported youth psychopathology at a 3-year follow-up. Parental internalizing and total problems were associated with 1) higher connectivity between a subcortical-cortical integrative and ventrolateral prefrontal cortical (PFC) network, 2) lower connectivity between dorsolateral and ventrolateral PFC networks involved in cognitive aspects of ER, and 3) lower connectivity within a subcortical ER network (β = -0.05-0.04). Parental externalizing and total problems were associated with lower connectivity within the integrative network (β
Abstract Background A child’s socioeconomic environment can shape central aspects of their life, including vulnerability to mental disorders. Negative environmental influences in youth may interfere with the extensive and dynamic brain development occurring at this time. Indeed, there are numerous yet diverging reports of associations between parental socioeconomic status (SES) and child cortical brain morphometry. Most of these studies have used single metric- or unimodal analyses of standard cortical morphometry that downplay the probable scenario where numerous biological pathways in sum account for SES-related cortical differences in youth. Methods To comprehensively capture such variability, using data from 9758 children aged 8.9-11.1 years from the ABCD Study ® , we employed linked independent component analysis (LICA) and fused vertex-wise cortical thickness, surface area, curvature and grey-/white-matter contrast (GWC). LICA revealed 70 uni- and multimodal components. We then assessed the linear relationships between parental education, parental income and each of the cortical components, controlling for age, sex, genetic ancestry, and family relatedness. We also assessed whether cortical structure moderated the negative relationships between parental SES and child general psychopathology. Results Parental education and income were both associated with larger surface area and higher GWC globally, in addition to local increases in surface area and to a lesser extent bidirectional GWC and cortical thickness patterns. The negative relation between parental income and child psychopathology were attenuated in children with a multimodal pattern of larger frontal- and smaller occipital surface area, and lower medial occipital thickness and GWC. Conclusion Structural brain MRI is sensitive to SES diversity in childhood, with GWC emerging as a particularly relevant marker together with surface area. In low-income families, having a more developed cortex across MRI metrics, appears beneficial for mental health.
Abstract Research has demonstrated associations between pubertal development and brain maturation. However, existing studies have been limited by small samples, cross-sectional designs, and inconclusive findings regarding directionality of effects and sex differences. We examined the longitudinal temporal coupling of puberty status assessed using the Pubertal Development Scale (PDS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based grey and white matter brain structure. Our sample consisted of 8,896 children and adolescents at baseline (mean age = 9.9) and 6,099 at follow-up (mean age = 11.9) from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. Applying multigroup Bivariate Latent Change Score (BLCS) models, we found that baseline PDS predicted the rate of change in cortical thickness among females and rate of change in cortical surface area for both males and females. We also found a correlation between baseline PDS and surface area and co-occurring changes over time in males. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) analysis revealed correlated change between PDS and fractional anisotropy (FA) for both males and females, but no significant associations for mean diffusivity (MD). Our results suggest that pubertal status predicts cortical maturation, and that the strength of the associations differ between sex. Further research is needed to understand the impact of environmental and lifestyle factors.
Parental mental health is associated with children’s emotion regulation (ER) and risk for psychopathology. The relationship between parental psychopathology and children’s functional ER networks and whether connectivity patterns mediate the relationship between parent and youth psychopathology remains unexplored. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (N = 4202, mean age = 10.0) and a multilevel approach, we analyzed the relationship between self-reported parental psychopathology and their offsprings’ connectivity of four ER networks, as well as associations with self-reported youth psychopathology at a 3-year follow-up. Parental internalizing and total problems were associated with 1) higher connectivity between a subcortical-cortical integrative and ventrolateral prefrontal cortical (PFC) network, 2) lower connectivity between dorsolateral and ventrolateral PFC networks involved in cognitive aspects of ER, and 3) lower connectivity within a subcortical ER network (β = -0.05-0.04). Parental externalizing and total problems were associated with lower connectivity within the integrative network (βext = -0.05; βtot = -0.04). Mediation analyses yielded direct effects of parental to youth psychopathology, but no mediation effect of ER network connectivity. Overall, our results show that ER network connectivity in youth is related to parental psychopathology, yet do not explain intergenerational transmission of psychopathology.
Abstract Background Dysmyelination could be part of the pathophysiology of schizophrenia spectrum (SCZ) and bipolar disorders (BPD), yet few studies have examined myelination of the cerebral cortex. The ratio of T1- and T2-weighted magnetic resonance images (MRI) correlates with intracortical myelin. We investigated the T1w/T2w-ratio and its age trajectories in patients and healthy controls (CTR) and explored associations with antipsychotic medication use and psychotic symptoms. Methods Patients with SCZ (n=64; mean age = 30.4 years, SD=9.8), BPD (n=91; mean age 31.0 years, SD=10.2), and CTR (n=155; mean age = 31.9 years, SD=9.1) who participated in the TOP study (NORMENT, University of Oslo, Norway) were clinically assessed and scanned using a General Electric 3T MRI system. T1w/T2w-ratio images were computed using an optimized pipeline with intensity normalization and field inhomogeneity correction. Vertex-wise regression models were used to compare groups and examine group × age interactions. In regions showing significant differences, we explored associations with antipsychotic medication use and psychotic symptoms. Results No main effect of diagnosis was found. However, age slopes of the T1w/T2w-ratio differed significantly between SCZ and CTR, predominantly in frontal and temporal lobe regions: Lower T1w/T2w-ratio values with higher age were found in CTR, but not in SCZ. Follow-up analyses revealed a more positive age slope in patients who were using antipsychotics and patients using higher chlorpromazine-equivalent doses. Conclusions While we found no evidence of reduced intracortical myelin in SCZ or BPD relative to CTR, different regional age trajectories in SCZ may suggest a promyelinating effect of antipsychotic medication.
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