RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Probing brain developmental patterns of myelination and associations with psychopathology in youth using gray/white matter contrast
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 305995
DO 10.1101/305995
A1 Linn B. Norbom
A1 Nhat Trung Doan
A1 Dag Alnæs
A1 Tobias Kaufmann
A1 Torgeir Moberget
A1 Jaroslav Rokicki
A1 Ole A. Andreassen
A1 Lars T. Westlye
A1 Christian K. Tamnes
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/09/10/305995.abstract
AB Background Cerebral myeloarchitecture shows substantial development across childhood and adolescence, and aberrations in these trajectories are relevant for a range of mental disorders. Differential myelination between intracortical and subjacent white matter can be approximated using signal intensities in T1-weighted magnetic resonance images (MRI).Methods To test the sensitivity of gray/white matter contrast (GWC) to age and individual differences in psychopathology and general cognitive ability in youth (8-23 years), we formed data-driven psychopathology and cognitive components using a large population-based sample, the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (PNC) (n=6487, 52% females). We then tested for associations with regional GWC defined by an independent component analysis (ICA) in a subsample with available MRI data (n=1467, 53% females).Results The analyses revealed a global GWC component, which showed an age-related decrease from late childhood and across adolescence. In addition, we found regional anatomically meaningful components with differential age associations explaining variance beyond the global component. When accounting for age and sex, both higher symptom levels of anxiety or prodromal psychosis and lower cognitive ability were associated with higher GWC in insula and cingulate cortices and with lower GWC in pre- and postcentral cortices. We also found several additional regional associations with anxiety, prodromal psychosis and cognitive ability.Conclusion Independent modes of GWC variation are sensitive to global and regional brain developmental processes, possibly related to differences between intracortical and subjacent white matter myelination, and individual differences in regional GWC are associated with both mental health and general cognitive functioning.