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Reuben A, Elliott ML, Abraham WC, Broadbent J, Houts RM, Ireland D, Knodt AR, Poulton R, Ramrakha S, Hariri AR, Caspi A, Moffitt TE. Association of Childhood Lead Exposure With MRI Measurements of Structural Brain Integrity in Midlife. JAMA 2020; 324:1970-1979. [PMID: 33201203 PMCID: PMC7672511 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2020.19998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
IMPORTANCE Childhood lead exposure has been linked to disrupted brain development, but long-term consequences for structural brain integrity are unknown. OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that childhood lead exposure is associated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements of lower structural integrity of the brain in midlife. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The Dunedin Study followed a population-representative 1972-1973 birth cohort in New Zealand (N = 564 analytic sample) to age 45 years (until April 2019). EXPOSURES Childhood blood lead levels measured at age 11 years. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Structural brain integrity at age 45 years assessed via MRI (primary outcomes): gray matter (cortical thickness, surface area, hippocampal volume), white matter (white matter hyperintensities, fractional anisotropy [theoretical range, 0 {diffusion is perfectly isotropic} to 100 {diffusion is perfectly anisotropic}]), and the Brain Age Gap Estimation (BrainAGE), a composite index of the gap between chronological age and a machine learning algorithm-estimated brain age (0 indicates a brain age equivalent to chronological age; positive and negative values represent an older and younger brain age, respectively). Cognitive function at age 45 years was assessed objectively via the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale IV (IQ range, 40-160, standardized to a mean of 100 [SD, 15]) and subjectively via informant and self-reports (z-score units; scale mean, 0 [SD, 1]). RESULTS Of 1037 original participants, 997 were alive at age 45 years, of whom 564 (57%) had received lead testing at age 11 years (302 [54%] male) (median follow-up, 34 [interquartile range, 33.7-34.7] years). Mean blood lead level at age 11 years was 10.99 (SD, 4.63) μg/dL. After adjusting for covariates, each 5-μg/dL higher childhood blood lead level was significantly associated with 1.19-cm2 smaller cortical surface area (95% CI, -2.35 to -0.02 cm2; P = .05), 0.10-cm3 smaller hippocampal volume (95% CI, -0.17 to -0.03 cm3; P = .006), lower global fractional anisotropy (b = -0.12; 95% CI, -0.24 to -0.01; P = .04), and a BrainAGE index 0.77 years older (95% CI, 0.02-1.51 years; P = .05) at age 45 years. There were no statistically significant associations between blood lead level and log-transformed white matter hyperintensity volume (b = 0.05 log mm3; 95% CI, -0.02 to 0.13 log mm3; P = .17) or mean cortical thickness (b = -0.004 mm; 95% CI, -0.012 to 0.004 mm; P = .39). Each 5-μg/dL higher childhood blood lead level was significantly associated with a 2.07-point lower IQ score at age 45 years (95% CI, -3.39 to -0.74; P = .002) and a 0.12-point higher score on informant-rated cognitive problems (95% CI, 0.01-0.23; P = .03). There was no statistically significant association between childhood blood lead levels and self-reported cognitive problems (b = -0.02 points; 95% CI, -0.10 to 0.07; P = .68). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this longitudinal cohort study with a median 34-year follow-up, higher childhood blood lead level was associated with differences in some MRI measures of brain structure that suggested lower structural brain integrity in midlife. Because of the large number of statistical comparisons, some findings may represent type I error.
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d'Arbeloff T, Cooke M, Knodt AR, Sison M, Melzer TR, Ireland D, Poulton R, Ramrakha S, Moffitt TE, Caspi A, Hariri AR. Is cardiovascular fitness associated with structural brain integrity in midlife? Evidence from a population-representative birth cohort study. Aging (Albany NY) 2020; 12:20888-20914. [PMID: 33082296 PMCID: PMC7655208 DOI: 10.18632/aging.104112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2020] [Accepted: 08/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Improving cardiovascular fitness may buffer against age-related cognitive decline and mitigate dementia risk by staving off brain atrophy. However, it is unclear if such effects reflect factors operating in childhood (neuroselection) or adulthood (neuroprotection). Using data from 807 members of the Dunedin Study, a population-representative birth cohort, we investigated associations between cardiovascular fitness and structural brain integrity at age 45, and the extent to which associations reflected possible neuroselection or neuroprotection by controlling for childhood IQ. Higher fitness, as indexed by VO2Max, was not associated with average cortical thickness, total surface area, or subcortical gray matter volume including the hippocampus. However, higher fitness was associated with thicker cortex in prefrontal and temporal regions as well as greater cerebellar gray matter volume. Higher fitness was also associated with decreased hippocampal fissure volume. These associations were unaffected by the inclusion of childhood IQ in analyses. In contrast, a higher rate of decline in cardiovascular fitness from 26 to 45 years was not robustly associated with structural brain integrity. Our findings are consistent with a neuroprotective account of adult cardiovascular fitness but suggest that effects are not uniformly observed across the brain and reflect contemporaneous fitness more so than decline over time.
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Avinun R, Israel S, Knodt AR, Hariri AR. Little evidence for associations between the Big Five personality traits and variability in brain gray or white matter. Neuroimage 2020; 220:117092. [PMID: 32599267 PMCID: PMC7593529 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2019] [Revised: 06/18/2020] [Accepted: 06/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Attempts to link the Big Five personality traits of Openness-to-Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism with variability in trait-like features of brain structure have produced inconsistent results. Small sample sizes and heterogeneous methodology have been suspected in driving these inconsistencies. Here, using data collected from 1,107 university students (636 women, mean age 19.69 ± 1.24 years), representing the largest sample to date of unrelated individuals, we tested for associations between the Big Five personality traits and measures of cortical thickness and surface area, subcortical volume, and white matter microstructural integrity. In addition to replication analyses based on a prior study, we conducted exploratory whole-brain analyses. Four supplementary analyses were also conducted to examine 1) possible associations with lower-order facets of personality; 2) modulatory effects of sex; 3) effect of controlling for non-target personality traits; and 4) parcellation scheme effects. Our analyses failed to identify significant associations between the Big Five personality traits and brain morphometry, except for a weak association between greater surface area of the superior temporal gyrus and lower conscientiousness scores. As the latter association is not supported by previous studies, it should be treated with caution. Our supplementary analyses mirrored these predominantly null findings, suggesting they were not substantively biased by our analytic choices. Collectively, these results indicate that if there are associations between the Big Five personality traits and brain structure, they are likely of very small effect size and will require very large samples for reliable detection.
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Baranger DAA, Few LR, Sheinbein DH, Agrawal A, Oltmanns TF, Knodt AR, Barch DM, Hariri AR, Bogdan R. Borderline Personality Traits Are Not Correlated With Brain Structure in Two Large Samples. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2020; 5:669-677. [PMID: 32312691 PMCID: PMC7360105 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2020.02.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2019] [Revised: 02/06/2020] [Accepted: 02/15/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Borderline personality disorder is associated with severe psychiatric presentations and has been linked to variability in brain structure. Dimensional models of borderline personality traits (BPTs) have become influential; however, associations between BPTs and brain structure remain poorly understood. METHODS We tested whether BPTs are associated with regional cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and subcortical volumes (n = 152 brain structure metrics) in data from the Duke Neurogenetics Study (n = 1299) and Human Connectome Project (n = 1099). Positive control analyses tested whether BPTs are associated with related behaviors (e.g., suicidal thoughts and behaviors, psychiatric diagnoses) and experiences (e.g., adverse childhood experiences). RESULTS While BPTs were robustly associated with all positive control measures, they were not significantly associated with any brain structure metrics in the Duke Neurogenetics Study or Human Connectome Project, or in a meta-analysis of both samples. The strongest findings from the meta-analysis showed a positive association between BPTs and volumes of the left ventral diencephalon and thalamus (p values < .005 uncorrected, p values > .1 false discovery rate-corrected). Contrasting high and low BPT decile groups (n = 552) revealed no false discovery rate-significant associations with brain structure. CONCLUSIONS We find replicable evidence that BPTs are not associated with brain structure despite being correlated with independent behavioral measures. Prior reports linking brain morphology to borderline personality disorder may be driven by factors other than traits (e.g., severe presentations, comorbid conditions, severe childhood adversity, or medication) or reflect false positives. The etiology or consequences of BPTs may not be attributable to brain structure measured via magnetic resonance imaging. Future studies of BPTs will require much larger sample sizes to detect these very small effects.
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Elliott ML, Knodt AR, Ireland D, Morris ML, Poulton R, Ramrakha S, Sison ML, Moffitt TE, Caspi A, Hariri AR. What Is the Test-Retest Reliability of Common Task-Functional MRI Measures? New Empirical Evidence and a Meta-Analysis. Psychol Sci 2020; 31:792-806. [PMID: 32489141 DOI: 10.1177/0956797620916786] [Citation(s) in RCA: 346] [Impact Index Per Article: 86.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Identifying brain biomarkers of disease risk is a growing priority in neuroscience. The ability to identify meaningful biomarkers is limited by measurement reliability; unreliable measures are unsuitable for predicting clinical outcomes. Measuring brain activity using task functional MRI (fMRI) is a major focus of biomarker development; however, the reliability of task fMRI has not been systematically evaluated. We present converging evidence demonstrating poor reliability of task-fMRI measures. First, a meta-analysis of 90 experiments (N = 1,008) revealed poor overall reliability-mean intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = .397. Second, the test-retest reliabilities of activity in a priori regions of interest across 11 common fMRI tasks collected by the Human Connectome Project (N = 45) and the Dunedin Study (N = 20) were poor (ICCs = .067-.485). Collectively, these findings demonstrate that common task-fMRI measures are not currently suitable for brain biomarker discovery or for individual-differences research. We review how this state of affairs came to be and highlight avenues for improving task-fMRI reliability.
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Puetz VB, Viding E, Gerin MI, Pingault JB, Sethi A, Knodt AR, Radtke SR, Brigidi BD, Hariri AR, McCrory E. Investigating patterns of neural response associated with childhood abuse v. childhood neglect. Psychol Med 2020; 50:1398-1407. [PMID: 31190662 DOI: 10.1017/s003329171900134x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Childhood maltreatment is robustly associated with increased risk of poor mental health outcome and changes in brain function. The authors investigated whether childhood experience of abuse (e.g. physical, emotional and sexual abuse) and neglect (physical and emotional deprivation) was differentially associated with neural reactivity to threat. METHODS Participants were drawn from an existing study and allocated to one of four groups based on self-report of childhood maltreatment experience: individuals with childhood abuse experiences (n = 70); individuals with childhood neglect experiences (n = 87); individuals with combined experience of childhood abuse and neglect (n = 50); and non-maltreated individuals (n = 207) propensity score matched (PSM) on gender, age, IQ, psychopathology and SES. Neural reactivity to facial cues signalling threat was compared across groups, allowing the differential effects associated with particular forms of maltreatment experience to be isolated. RESULTS Brain imaging analyses indicated that while childhood abuse was associated with heightened localised threat reactivity in ventral amygdala, experiences of neglect were associated with heightened reactivity in a distributed cortical fronto-parietal network supporting complex social and cognitive processing as well as in the dorsal amygdala. Unexpectedly, combined experiences of abuse and neglect were associated with hypo-activation in several higher-order cortical regions as well as the amygdala. CONCLUSIONS Different forms of childhood maltreatment exert differential effects in neural threat reactivity: while the effects of abuse are more focal, the effects of neglect and combined experiences of abuse are more distributed. These findings are relevant for understanding the range of psychiatric outcomes following childhood maltreatment and have implications for intervention.
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Puetz VB, Viding E, Gerin MI, Pingault JB, Sethi A, Knodt AR, Radtke SR, Brigidi BD, Hariri AR, McCrory E. Investigating patterns of neural response associated with childhood abuse v. childhood neglect - Corrigendum. Psychol Med 2020; 50:1408. [PMID: 31298173 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291719001752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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Grasby KL, Jahanshad N, Painter JN, Colodro-Conde L, Bralten J, Hibar DP, Lind PA, Pizzagalli F, Ching CRK, McMahon MAB, Shatokhina N, Zsembik LCP, Thomopoulos SI, Zhu AH, Strike LT, Agartz I, Alhusaini S, Almeida MAA, Alnæs D, Amlien IK, Andersson M, Ard T, Armstrong NJ, Ashley-Koch A, Atkins JR, Bernard M, Brouwer RM, Buimer EEL, Bülow R, Bürger C, Cannon DM, Chakravarty M, Chen Q, Cheung JW, Couvy-Duchesne B, Dale AM, Dalvie S, de Araujo TK, de Zubicaray GI, de Zwarte SMC, den Braber A, Doan NT, Dohm K, Ehrlich S, Engelbrecht HR, Erk S, Fan CC, Fedko IO, Foley SF, Ford JM, Fukunaga M, Garrett ME, Ge T, Giddaluru S, Goldman AL, Green MJ, Groenewold NA, Grotegerd D, Gurholt TP, Gutman BA, Hansell NK, Harris MA, Harrison MB, Haswell CC, Hauser M, Herms S, Heslenfeld DJ, Ho NF, Hoehn D, Hoffmann P, Holleran L, Hoogman M, Hottenga JJ, Ikeda M, Janowitz D, Jansen IE, Jia T, Jockwitz C, Kanai R, Karama S, Kasperaviciute D, Kaufmann T, Kelly S, Kikuchi M, Klein M, Knapp M, Knodt AR, Krämer B, Lam M, Lancaster TM, Lee PH, Lett TA, Lewis LB, Lopes-Cendes I, Luciano M, Macciardi F, Marquand AF, Mathias SR, Melzer TR, Milaneschi Y, Mirza-Schreiber N, Moreira JCV, Mühleisen TW, Müller-Myhsok B, Najt P, Nakahara S, Nho K, Loohuis LMO, Orfanos DP, Pearson JF, Pitcher TL, Pütz B, Quidé Y, Ragothaman A, Rashid FM, Reay WR, Redlich R, Reinbold CS, Repple J, Richard G, Riede BC, Risacher SL, Rocha CS, Mota NR, Salminen L, Saremi A, Saykin AJ, Schlag F, Schmaal L, Schofield PR, Secolin R, Shapland CY, Shen L, Shin J, Shumskaya E, Sønderby IE, Sprooten E, Tansey KE, Teumer A, Thalamuthu A, Tordesillas-Gutiérrez D, Turner JA, Uhlmann A, Vallerga CL, van derMeer D, van Donkelaar MMJ, van Eijk L, van Erp TGM, van Haren NEM, van Rooij D, van Tol MJ, Veldink JH, Verhoef E, Walton E, Wang M, Wang Y, Wardlaw JM, Wen W, Westlye LT, Whelan CD, Witt SH, Wittfeld K, Wolf C, Wolfers T, Wu JQ, Yasuda CL, Zaremba D, Zhang Z, Zwiers MP, Artiges E, Assareh AA, Ayesa-Arriola R, Belger A, Brandt CL, Brown GG, Cichon S, Curran JE, Davies GE, Degenhardt F, Dennis MF, Dietsche B, Djurovic S, Doherty CP, Espiritu R, Garijo D, Gil Y, Gowland PA, Green RC, Häusler AN, Heindel W, Ho BC, Hoffmann WU, Holsboer F, Homuth G, Hosten N, Jack CR, Jang M, Jansen A, Kimbrel NA, Kolskår K, Koops S, Krug A, Lim KO, Luykx JJ, Mathalon DH, Mather KA, Mattay VS, Matthews S, Van Son JM, McEwen SC, Melle I, Morris DW, Mueller BA, Nauck M, Nordvik JE, Nöthen MM, O’Leary DS, Opel N, Martinot MLP, Pike GB, Preda A, Quinlan EB, Rasser PE, Ratnakar V, Reppermund S, Steen VM, Tooney PA, Torres FR, Veltman DJ, Voyvodic JT, Whelan R, White T, Yamamori H, Adams HHH, Bis JC, Debette S, Decarli C, Fornage M, Gudnason V, Hofer E, Ikram MA, Launer L, Longstreth WT, Lopez OL, Mazoyer B, Mosley TH, Roshchupkin GV, Satizabal CL, Schmidt R, Seshadri S, Yang Q, Alvim MKM, Ames D, Anderson TJ, Andreassen OA, Arias-Vasquez A, Bastin ME, Baune BT, Beckham JC, Blangero J, Boomsma DI, Brodaty H, Brunner HG, Buckner RL, Buitelaar JK, Bustillo JR, Cahn W, Cairns MJ, Calhoun V, Carr VJ, Caseras X, Caspers S, Cavalleri GL, Cendes F, Corvin A, Crespo-Facorro B, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Dannlowski U, de Geus EJC, Deary IJ, Delanty N, Depondt C, Desrivières S, Donohoe G, Espeseth T, Fernández G, Fisher SE, Flor H, Forstner AJ, Francks C, Franke B, Glahn DC, Gollub RL, Grabe HJ, Gruber O, Håberg AK, Hariri AR, Hartman CA, Hashimoto R, Heinz A, Henskens FA, Hillegers MHJ, Hoekstra PJ, Holmes AJ, Hong LE, Hopkins WD, Pol HEH, Jernigan TL, Jönsson EG, Kahn RS, Kennedy MA, Kircher TTJ, Kochunov P, Kwok JBJ, Le Hellard S, Loughland CM, Martin NG, Martinot JL, McDonald C, McMahon KL, Meyer-Lindenberg A, Michie PT, Morey RA, Mowry B, Nyberg L, Oosterlaan J, Ophoff RA, Pantelis C, Paus T, Pausova Z, Penninx BWJH, Polderman TJC, Posthuma D, Rietschel M, Roffman JL, Rowland LM, Sachdev PS, Sämann PG, Schall U, Schumann G, Scott RJ, Sim K, Sisodiya SM, Smoller JW, Sommer IE, St Pourcain B, Stein DJ, Toga AW, Trollor JN, Van der Wee NJA, van ‘t Ent D, Völzke H, Walter H, Weber B, Weinberger DR, Wright MJ, Zhou J, Stein JL, Thompson PM, Medland SE. The genetic architecture of the human cerebral cortex. Science 2020; 367:eaay6690. [PMID: 32193296 PMCID: PMC7295264 DOI: 10.1126/science.aay6690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 350] [Impact Index Per Article: 87.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2019] [Accepted: 02/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The cerebral cortex underlies our complex cognitive capabilities, yet little is known about the specific genetic loci that influence human cortical structure. To identify genetic variants that affect cortical structure, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of brain magnetic resonance imaging data from 51,665 individuals. We analyzed the surface area and average thickness of the whole cortex and 34 regions with known functional specializations. We identified 199 significant loci and found significant enrichment for loci influencing total surface area within regulatory elements that are active during prenatal cortical development, supporting the radial unit hypothesis. Loci that affect regional surface area cluster near genes in Wnt signaling pathways, which influence progenitor expansion and areal identity. Variation in cortical structure is genetically correlated with cognitive function, Parkinson's disease, insomnia, depression, neuroticism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
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Scult MA, Knodt AR, Radtke SR, Brigidi BD, Hariri AR. Prefrontal Executive Control Rescues Risk for Anxiety Associated with High Threat and Low Reward Brain Function. Cereb Cortex 2020; 29:70-76. [PMID: 29161340 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhx304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2017] [Accepted: 10/19/2017] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Compared with neural biomarkers of risk for mental illness, little is known about biomarkers of resilience. We explore if greater executive control-related prefrontal activity may function as a resilience biomarker by "rescuing" risk associated with higher threat-related amygdala and lower reward-related ventral striatum activity. Functional MRI was used to assay baseline threat-related amygdala, reward-related ventral striatum, and executive control-related prefrontal activity in 120 young adult volunteers. Participants provided self-reported mood and anxiety ratings at baseline and follow-up. A moderation model revealed a significant three-way interaction wherein higher amygdala and lower ventral striatum activity predicted increases in anxiety in those with average or low but not high prefrontal activity. This effect was specific to anxiety, with the neural biomarkers explaining ~10% of the variance in change over time, above and beyond baseline symptoms, sex, age, IQ, presence or absence of DMS-IV diagnosis, and both early and recent stress. Our findings are consistent with the importance of top-down executive control in adaptive regulation of negative emotions, and highlight a unique combination of neural biomarkers that may identify at-risk individuals for whom the adoption of strategies to improve executive control of negative emotions may prove particularly beneficial.
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Carlisi CO, Moffitt TE, Knodt AR, Harrington H, Ireland D, Melzer TR, Poulton R, Ramrakha S, Caspi A, Hariri AR, Viding E. Associations between life-course-persistent antisocial behaviour and brain structure in a population-representative longitudinal birth cohort. Lancet Psychiatry 2020; 7:245-253. [PMID: 32078822 PMCID: PMC7033555 DOI: 10.1016/s2215-0366(20)30002-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2019] [Revised: 01/02/2020] [Accepted: 01/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Studies with behavioural and neuropsychological tests have supported the developmental taxonomy theory of antisocial behaviour, which specifies abnormal brain development as a fundamental aspect of life-course-persistent antisocial behaviour, but no study has characterised features of brain structure associated with life-course-persistent versus adolescence-limited trajectories, as defined by prospective data. We aimed to determine whether life-course-persistent antisocial behaviour is associated with neurocognitive abnormalities by testing the hypothesis that it is also associated with brain structure abnormalities. METHODS We used structural MRI data collected at 45 years of age from participants in the Dunedin Study, a population-representative longitudinal birth cohort of 1037 individuals born between April 1, 1972, and March 31, 1973, in Dunedin, New Zealand, who were resident in the province and who participated in the first assessment at 3 years of age. Participants underwent MRI, and mean global cortical surface area and cortical thickness were extracted for each participant. Participants had been previously subtyped as exhibiting life-course-persistent, adolescence-limited, or no history of persistent antisocial behaviour (ie, a low trajectory group) based on informant-reported and self-reported conduct problems from the ages of 7 years to 26 years. Study personnel who processed the MRI images were masked to antisocial group membership. We used linear estimated ordinary least squares regressions to compare each antisocial trajectory group (life-course persistent and adolescence limited) with the low trajectory group to examine whether antisocial behaviour was related to abnormalities in mean global surface area and mean cortical thickness. Next, we used parcel-wise linear regressions to identify antisocial trajectory group differences in surface area and cortical thickness. All results were controlled for sex and false discovery rate corrected. FINDINGS Data from 672 participants were analysed, and 80 (12%) were classified as having life-course-persistent antisocial behaviour, 151 (23%) as having adolescence-limited antisocial behaviour, and 441 (66%) as having low antisocial behaviour. Individuals on the life-course-persistent trajectory had a smaller mean surface area (standardised β=-0·18 [95% CI -0·24 to -0·11]; p<0·0001) and lower mean cortical thickness (standardised β=-0·10 [95% CI -0·19 to -0·02]; p=0·020) than did those in the low group. Compared with the low group, the life-course-persistent group had reduced surface area in 282 of 360 anatomically defined parcels and thinner cortex in 11 of 360 parcels encompassing circumscribed frontal and temporal regions associated with executive function, affect regulation, and motivation. Widespread differences in brain surface morphometry were not observed for the adolescence-limited group compared with either non-antisocial behaviour or life-course-persistent groups. INTERPRETATION These analyses provide initial evidence that differences in brain surface morphometry are associated with life-course-persistent, but not adolescence-limited, antisocial behaviour. As such, the analyses are consistent with the developmental taxonomy theory of antisocial behaviour and highlight the importance of using prospective longitudinal data to define different patterns of antisocial behaviour development. FUNDING US National Institute on Aging, Health Research Council of New Zealand, New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, UK Medical Research Council, Avielle Foundation, and Wellcome Trust.
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Burr DA, d'Arbeloff T, Elliott ML, Knodt AR, Brigidi BD, Hariri AR. Functional connectivity predicts the dispositional use of expressive suppression but not cognitive reappraisal. Brain Behav 2020; 10:e01493. [PMID: 31930667 PMCID: PMC7010583 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.1493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2019] [Revised: 11/06/2019] [Accepted: 11/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Previous research has identified specific brain regions associated with regulating emotion using common strategies such as expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal. However, most research focuses on a priori regions and directs participants how to regulate, which may not reflect how people naturally regulate outside the laboratory. METHOD Here, we used a data-driven approach to investigate how individual differences in distributed intrinsic functional brain connectivity predict emotion regulation tendency outside the laboratory. Specifically, we used connectome-based predictive modeling to extract functional connections in the brain significantly related to the dispositional use of suppression and reappraisal. These edges were then used in a predictive model and cross-validated in novel participants to identify a neural signature that reflects individual differences in the tendency to suppress and reappraise emotion. RESULTS We found a significant neural signature for the dispositional use of suppression, but not reappraisal. Within this whole-brain signature, the intrinsic connectivity of the default mode network was most informative of suppression tendency. In addition, the predictive performance of this model was significant in males, but not females. CONCLUSION These findings help inform how whole-brain networks of functional connectivity characterize how people tend to regulate emotion outside the laboratory.
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d'Arbeloff T, Elliott ML, Knodt AR, Melzer TR, Keenan R, Ireland D, Ramrakha S, Poulton R, Anderson T, Caspi A, Moffitt TE, Hariri AR. White matter hyperintensities are common in midlife and already associated with cognitive decline. Brain Commun 2019; 1:fcz041. [PMID: 31894208 PMCID: PMC6928390 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcz041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2019] [Revised: 09/25/2019] [Accepted: 10/23/2019] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
White matter hyperintensities proliferate as the brain ages and are associated with increased risk for cognitive decline as well as Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. As such, white matter hyperintensities have been targeted as a surrogate biomarker in intervention trials with older adults. However, it is unclear at what stage of aging white matter hyperintensities begin to relate to cognition and if they may be a viable target for early prevention. In the Dunedin Study, a population-representative cohort followed since birth, we measured white matter hyperintensities in 843 45-year-old participants using T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and we assessed cognitive decline from childhood to midlife. We found that white matter hyperintensities were common at age 45 and that white matter hyperintensity volume was modestly associated with both lower childhood (ß = −0.08, P = 0.013) and adult IQ (ß=−0.15, P < 0.001). Moreover, white matter hyperintensity volume was associated with greater cognitive decline from childhood to midlife (ß=−0.09, P < 0.001). Our results demonstrate that a link between white matter hyperintensities and early signs of cognitive decline is detectable decades before clinical symptoms of dementia emerge. Thus, white matter hyperintensities may be a useful surrogate biomarker for identifying individuals in midlife at risk for future accelerated cognitive decline and selecting participants for dementia prevention trials.
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Kim MJ, Farber MJ, Knodt AR, Hariri AR. Corticolimbic circuit structure moderates an association between early life stress and later trait anxiety. Neuroimage Clin 2019; 24:102050. [PMID: 31677585 PMCID: PMC6838553 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2019.102050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2019] [Revised: 09/17/2019] [Accepted: 10/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Childhood adversity is associated with a wide range of negative behavioral and neurodevelopmental consequences. However, individuals vary substantially in their sensitivity to such adversity. Here, we examined how individual variability in structural features of the corticolimbic circuit, which plays a key role in emotional reactivity, moderates the association between childhood adversity and later trait anxiety in 798 young adult university students. Consistent with prior research, higher self-reported childhood adversity was significantly associated with higher self-reported trait anxiety. However, this association was attenuated in participants with higher microstructural integrity of the uncinate fasciculus and greater thickness of the orbitofrontal cortex. These structural properties of the corticolimbic circuit may capture a neural profile of relative resiliency to early life stress, especially against the negative effects of childhood adversity on later trait anxiety.
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Rasmussen LJH, Caspi A, Ambler A, Broadbent JM, Cohen HJ, d’Arbeloff T, Elliott M, Hancox RJ, Harrington H, Hogan S, Houts R, Ireland D, Knodt AR, Meredith-Jones K, Morey MC, Morrison L, Poulton R, Ramrakha S, Richmond-Rakerd L, Sison ML, Sneddon K, Thomson WM, Hariri AR, Moffitt TE. Association of Neurocognitive and Physical Function With Gait Speed in Midlife. JAMA Netw Open 2019; 2:e1913123. [PMID: 31603488 PMCID: PMC6804027 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.13123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
IMPORTANCE Gait speed is a well-known indicator of risk of functional decline and mortality in older adults, but little is known about the factors associated with gait speed earlier in life. OBJECTIVES To test the hypothesis that slow gait speed reflects accelerated biological aging at midlife, as well as poor neurocognitive functioning in childhood and cognitive decline from childhood to midlife. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This cohort study uses data from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, a population-based study of a representative 1972 to 1973 birth cohort in New Zealand that observed participants to age 45 years (until April 2019). Data analysis was performed from April to June 2019. EXPOSURES Childhood neurocognitive functions and accelerated aging, brain structure, and concurrent physical and cognitive functions in adulthood. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Gait speed at age 45 years, measured under 3 walking conditions: usual, dual task, and maximum gait speeds. RESULTS Of the 1037 original participants (91% of eligible births; 535 [51.6%] male), 997 were alive at age 45 years, of whom 904 (90.7%) had gait speed measured (455 [50.3%] male; 93% white). The mean (SD) gait speeds were 1.30 (0.17) m/s for usual gait, 1.16 (0.23) m/s for dual task gait, and 1.99 (0.29) m/s for maximum gait. Adults with more physical limitations (standardized regression coefficient [β], -0.27; 95% CI, -0.34 to -0.21; P < .001), poorer physical functions (ie, weak grip strength [β, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.25 to 0.46], poor balance [β, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.21 to 0.34], poor visual-motor coordination [β, 0.24; 95% CI, 0.17 to 0.30], and poor performance on the chair-stand [β, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.27 to 0.40] or 2-minute step tests [β, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.27 to 0.39]; all P < .001), accelerated biological aging across multiple organ systems (β, -0.33; 95% CI, -0.40 to -0.27; P < .001), older facial appearance (β, -0.25; 95% CI, -0.31 to -0.18; P < .001), smaller brain volume (β, 0.15; 95% CI, 0.06 to 0.23; P < .001), more cortical thinning (β, 0.09; 95% CI, 0.02 to 0.16; P = .01), smaller cortical surface area (β, 0.13; 95% CI, 0.04 to 0.21; P = .003), and more white matter hyperintensities (β, -0.09; 95% CI, -0.15 to -0.02; P = .01) had slower gait speed. Participants with lower IQ in midlife (β, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.32 to 0.44; P < .001) and participants who exhibited cognitive decline from childhood to adulthood (β, 0.10; 95% CI, 0.04 to 0.17; P < .001) had slower gait at age 45 years. Those with poor neurocognitive functioning as early as age 3 years had slower gait in midlife (β, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.20 to 0.32; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Adults' gait speed is associated with more than geriatric functional status; it is also associated with midlife aging and lifelong brain health.
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Swartz JR, Carranza AF, Knodt AR. Amygdala activity to angry and fearful faces relates to bullying and victimization in adolescents. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2019; 14:1027-1035. [PMID: 31680148 PMCID: PMC6970148 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsz084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2019] [Revised: 09/11/2019] [Accepted: 09/30/2019] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Relational bullying and victimization are common social experiences during adolescence, but relatively little functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research has examined the neural correlates of bullying and victimization in adolescents. The aim of the present study was to address this gap by examining the association between amygdala activity to angry and fearful faces and peer relational bullying and victimization in a community-based sample of adolescents. Participants included 49 adolescents, 12-15 years old, who underwent fMRI scanning while completing an emotional face matching task. Results indicated that interactions between amygdala activity to angry and fearful faces predicted self-reported relational bullying and victimization. Specifically, a combination of higher amygdala activity to angry faces and lower amygdala activity to fearful faces predicted more bullying behavior, whereas a combination of lower amygdala activity to angry faces and lower amygdala activity to fearful faces predicted less relational victimization. Exploratory whole-brain analyses also suggested that increased rostral anterior cingulate cortex activity to fearful faces was associated with less bullying. These results suggest that relational bullying and victimization are related to different patterns of neural activity to angry and fearful faces, which may help in understanding how patterns of social information processing predict these experiences.
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Farber MJ, Kim MJ, Knodt AR, Hariri AR. Maternal overprotection in childhood is associated with amygdala reactivity and structural connectivity in adulthood. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2019; 40:100711. [PMID: 31629936 PMCID: PMC6961964 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100711] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2019] [Revised: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 09/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Recently, we reported that variability in early-life caregiving experiences maps onto individual differences in threat-related brain function. Here, we extend this work to provide further evidence that subtle variability in specific features of early caregiving shapes structural and functional connectivity between the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in a cohort of 312 young adult volunteers. Multiple regression analyses revealed that participants who reported higher maternal overprotection exhibited increased amygdala reactivity to explicit signals of interpersonal threat but not implicit signals of broad environmental threat. While amygdala functional connectivity with regulatory regions of the mPFC was not significantly associated with maternal overprotection, participants who reported higher maternal overprotection exhibited relatively decreased structural integrity of the uncinate fasciculus (UF), a white matter tract connecting these same brain regions. There were no significant associations between structural or functional brain measures and either maternal or paternal care ratings. These findings suggest that an overprotective maternal parenting style during childhood is associated with later functional and structural alterations of brain regions involved in generating and regulating responses to threat.
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Gerin MI, Viding E, Pingault JB, Puetz VB, Knodt AR, Radtke SR, Brigidi BD, Swartz JR, Hariri AR, McCrory EJ. Heightened amygdala reactivity and increased stress generation predict internalizing symptoms in adults following childhood maltreatment. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2019; 60:752-761. [PMID: 30933355 PMCID: PMC6594878 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Childhood maltreatment is one of the most potent predictors of future psychopathology, including internalizing disorders. It remains unclear whether heightened amygdala reactivity to threat and elevated stress exposure may be implicated in the pathogenesis and maintenance of internalizing disorders among individuals with a history of childhood maltreatment. METHODS Using data from a sample of 1,144 young adults, we investigated the contribution of baseline threat-related amygdala reactivity and prospective major stressful life events to internalizing symptoms severity 1 year later (on average) in individuals with a history of maltreatment (n = 100) and propensity score matched nonmaltreated peers (n = 96). RESULTS Even after stringently matching for several potentially confounding variables - including baseline internalizing symptoms, socioeconomic status and IQ - childhood maltreatment status predicted increased amygdala reactivity at baseline, elevated post-baseline exposure to major stressful life events and internalizing symptoms at follow-up. We also showed, for the first time, that amygdala reactivity at baseline and also post-baseline exposure to major stressful life events mediated the association between a history of maltreatment and future internalizing symptoms. CONCLUSIONS These findings provide support for the view that maltreatment is a potent developmental insult leading to long-lasting neurocognitive recalibrations of the threat processing system. It is possible that such alterations, over time, may impact mental health functioning by compromising the ability to effectively negotiate everyday challenges (stress susceptibility). These alterations were not, however, found to sensitize an individual to the impact of major stressful life events. The results of this study also lend compelling support to the view that increased psychiatric risk, in the context of childhood maltreatment, follows from an increased propensity to experience major stressful life events (stress generation).
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Chen Q, Ursini G, Romer AL, Knodt AR, Mezeivtch K, Xiao E, Pergola G, Blasi G, Straub RE, Callicott JH, Berman KF, Hariri AR, Bertolino A, Mattay VS, Weinberger DR. Schizophrenia polygenic risk score predicts mnemonic hippocampal activity. Brain 2019; 141:1218-1228. [PMID: 29415119 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awy004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2017] [Accepted: 11/21/2017] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The use of polygenic risk scores has become a practical translational approach to investigating the complex genetic architecture of schizophrenia, but the link between polygenic risk scores and pathophysiological components of this disorder has been the subject of limited research. We investigated in healthy volunteers whether schizophrenia polygenic risk score predicts hippocampal activity during simple memory encoding, which has been proposed as a risk-associated intermediate phenotype of schizophrenia. We analysed the relationship between polygenic risk scores and hippocampal activity in a discovery sample of 191 unrelated healthy volunteers from the USA and in two independent replication samples of 76 and 137 healthy unrelated participants from Europe and the USA, respectively. Polygenic risk scores for each individual were calculated as the sum of the imputation probability of reference alleles weighted by the natural log of odds ratio from the recent schizophrenia genome-wide association study. We examined hippocampal activity during simple memory encoding of novel visual stimuli assessed using blood oxygen level-dependent functional MRI. Polygenic risk scores were significantly associated with hippocampal activity in the discovery sample [P = 0.016, family-wise error (FWE) corrected within Anatomical Automatic Labeling (AAL) bilateral hippocampal-parahippocampal mask] and in both replication samples (P = 0.033, FWE corrected within AAL right posterior hippocampal-parahippocampal mask in Bari sample, and P = 0.002 uncorrected in the Duke Neurogenetics Study sample). The relationship between polygenic risk scores and hippocampal activity was consistently negative, i.e. lower hippocampal activity in individuals with higher polygenic risk scores, consistent with previous studies reporting decreased hippocampal-parahippocampal activity during declarative memory tasks in patients with schizophrenia and in their healthy siblings. Polygenic risk scores accounted for more than 8% of variance in hippocampal activity during memory encoding in discovery sample. We conclude that polygenic risk scores derived from the most recent schizophrenia genome-wide association study predict significant variability in hippocampal activity during memory encoding in healthy participants. Our findings validate mnemonic hippocampal activity as a genetic risk associated intermediate phenotype of schizophrenia, indicating that the aggregate neurobiological effect of schizophrenia risk alleles converges on this pattern of neural activity.awy004media15749593779001.
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Knodt AR, Burke JR, Welsh-Bohmer KA, Plassman BL, Burns DK, Brannan SK, Kukulka M, Wu J, Hariri AR. Effects of pioglitazone on mnemonic hippocampal function: A blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging study in elderly adults. ALZHEIMERS & DEMENTIA-TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH & CLINICAL INTERVENTIONS 2019; 5:254-263. [PMID: 31304231 PMCID: PMC6603333 DOI: 10.1016/j.trci.2019.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Introduction Mitochondrial dysfunction is implicated in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Accordingly, drugs that positively influence mitochondrial function are being evaluated in delay-of-onset clinical trials with at-risk individuals. Such ongoing clinical research can be advanced by developing a better understanding of how these drugs affect intermediate brain phenotypes associated with both AD risk and pathophysiology. Methods Using a randomized, parallel-group, placebo-controlled design in 55 healthy elderly volunteers, we explored the effects of oral, low-dose pioglitazone, a thiazolidinedione with promitochondrial effects, on hippocampal activity measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging during the encoding of novel face–name pairs. Results Compared with placebo, 0.6 mg of pioglitazone (but not 2.1 mg, 3.9 mg, or 6.0 mg) administered daily for 14 days was associated with significant increases in right hippocampal activation during encoding of novel face–name pairs at day 7 and day 14, relative to baseline. Discussion Our exploratory analyses suggest that low-dose pioglitazone has measurable effects on mnemonic brain function associated with AD risk and pathophysiology. Right hippocampal activity increased after 7 and 14 days of 0.6 mg of oral pioglitazone administration. Pioglitazone-associated hippocampal effects were not manifested at the level of memory performance. Nonspecific increases in distributed brain activity at higher pioglitazone doses (>0.6 mg).
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Avinun R, Nevo A, Knodt AR, Elliott ML, Hariri AR. A genome-wide association study-derived polygenic score for interleukin-1β is associated with hippocampal volume in two samples. Hum Brain Mapp 2019; 40:3910-3917. [PMID: 31119842 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2019] [Revised: 05/13/2019] [Accepted: 05/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Accumulating research suggests that the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1β (IL-1β) has a modulatory effect on the hippocampus, a brain structure important for learning and memory as well as linked with both psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we used an imaging genetics strategy to test an association between an IL-1β polygenic score and hippocampal volume in two independent samples. Our polygenic score was derived using summary statistics from a recent genome-wide association study of circulating cytokines that included IL-1β (N = 3,309). In the first sample of 512 non-Hispanic Caucasian university students (274 women, mean age 19.78 ± 1.24 years) from the Duke Neurogenetics Study, we identified a significant positive correlation between IL-1β polygenic scores and hippocampal volume. This positive association was successfully replicated in a second sample of 7,960 white British volunteers (4,158 women, mean age 62.63 ± 7.45 years) from the UK Biobank. Our results lend further support in humans, to the link between IL-1β and the structure of the hippocampus.
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Kim MJ, Elliott ML, d'Arbeloff TC, Knodt AR, Radtke SR, Brigidi BD, Hariri AR. Microstructural integrity of white matter moderates an association between childhood adversity and adult trait anger. Aggress Behav 2019; 45:310-318. [PMID: 30699245 DOI: 10.1002/ab.21820] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2018] [Revised: 10/10/2018] [Accepted: 12/21/2018] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Amongst a number of negative life sequelae associated with childhood adversity is the later expression of a higher dispositional tendency to experience anger and frustration to a wide range of situations (i.e., trait anger). We recently reported that an association between childhood adversity and trait anger is moderated by individual differences in both threat-related amygdala activity and executive control-related dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) activity, wherein individuals with relatively low amygdala and high dlPFC activity do not express higher trait anger even when having experienced childhood adversity. Here, we examine possible structural correlates of this functional dynamic using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging data from 647 young adult men and women volunteers. Specifically, we tested whether the degree of white matter microstructural integrity as indexed by fractional anisotropy modulated the association between childhood adversity and trait anger. Our analyses revealed that higher microstructural integrity of multiple pathways was associated with an attenuated link between childhood adversity and adult trait anger. Amongst these pathways was the uncinate fasciculus (UF; ΔR 2 = 0.01), which not only provides a major anatomical link between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex but also is associated with individual differences in regulating negative emotion through top-down cognitive reappraisal. These findings suggest that higher microstructural integrity of distributed white matter pathways including but not limited to the UF may represent an anatomical foundation serving to buffer against the expression of childhood adversity as later trait anger, which is itself associated with multiple negative health outcomes.
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Elliott ML, Knodt AR, Cooke M, Kim MJ, Melzer TR, Keenan R, Ireland D, Ramrakha S, Poulton R, Caspi A, Moffitt TE, Hariri AR. General functional connectivity: Shared features of resting-state and task fMRI drive reliable and heritable individual differences in functional brain networks. Neuroimage 2019; 189:516-532. [PMID: 30708106 PMCID: PMC6462481 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.01.068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 142] [Impact Index Per Article: 28.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2018] [Revised: 01/22/2019] [Accepted: 01/27/2019] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Intrinsic connectivity, measured using resting-state fMRI, has emerged as a fundamental tool in the study of the human brain. However, due to practical limitations, many studies do not collect enough resting-state data to generate reliable measures of intrinsic connectivity necessary for studying individual differences. Here we present general functional connectivity (GFC) as a method for leveraging shared features across resting-state and task fMRI and demonstrate in the Human Connectome Project and the Dunedin Study that GFC offers better test-retest reliability than intrinsic connectivity estimated from the same amount of resting-state data alone. Furthermore, at equivalent scan lengths, GFC displayed higher estimates of heritability than resting-state functional connectivity. We also found that predictions of cognitive ability from GFC generalized across datasets, performing as well or better than resting-state or task data alone. Collectively, our work suggests that GFC can improve the reliability of intrinsic connectivity estimates in existing datasets and, subsequently, the opportunity to identify meaningful correlates of individual differences in behavior. Given that task and resting-state data are often collected together, many researchers can immediately derive more reliable measures of intrinsic connectivity through the adoption of GFC rather than solely using resting-state data. Moreover, by better capturing heritable variation in intrinsic connectivity, GFC represents a novel endophenotype with broad applications in clinical neuroscience and biomarker discovery.
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d'Arbeloff TC, Freedy KR, Knodt AR, Radtke SR, Brigidi BD, Hariri AR. Emotion Regulation and the Experience of Future Negative Mood: The Importance of Assessing Social Support. Front Psychol 2018; 9:2287. [PMID: 30515127 PMCID: PMC6255934 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2018] [Accepted: 11/02/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Emotion regulation refers to the use of various strategies, such as cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, to help manage our negative experiences, emotions, and thoughts. Although such emotion regulation often occurs within broader social dynamics and interactions, little is known about how social contexts interact with specific regulation strategies to shape the experience of negative emotions. Using data from 544 young adult university students, we provide initial evidence that habitual use of cognitive reappraisal is associated with lower future experience of depression and anxiety primarily through higher perceived social support (PSS). In contrast, expressive suppression is associated with higher future depression and anxiety primarily through lower PSS. These patterns are consistent with the importance of interpersonal influences on emotion regulation and suggest that assessment of social support can help elucidate the mechanisms of successfully regulating negative mood.
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Elliott ML, Romer A, Knodt AR, Hariri AR. A Connectome-wide Functional Signature of Transdiagnostic Risk for Mental Illness. Biol Psychiatry 2018; 84:452-459. [PMID: 29779670 PMCID: PMC6119080 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2017] [Revised: 03/29/2018] [Accepted: 03/29/2018] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND High rates of comorbidity, shared risk, and overlapping therapeutic mechanisms have led psychopathology research toward transdiagnostic dimensional investigations of clustered symptoms. One influential framework accounts for these transdiagnostic phenomena through a single general factor, sometimes referred to as the p factor, associated with risk for all common forms of mental illness. METHODS We build on previous research identifying unique structural neural correlates of the p factor by conducting a data-driven analysis of connectome-wide intrinsic functional connectivity (n = 605). RESULTS We demonstrate that higher p factor scores and associated risk for common mental illness maps onto hyperconnectivity between visual association cortex and both frontoparietal and default mode networks. CONCLUSIONS These results provide initial evidence that the transdiagnostic risk for common forms of mental illness is associated with patterns of inefficient connectome-wide intrinsic connectivity between visual association cortex and networks supporting executive control and self-referential processes, networks that are often impaired across categorical disorders.
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d’Arbeloff TC, Kim MJ, Knodt AR, Radtke SR, Brigidi BD, Hariri AR. Microstructural integrity of a pathway connecting the prefrontal cortex and amygdala moderates the association between cognitive reappraisal and negative emotions. Emotion 2018; 18:912-915. [PMID: 29781643 PMCID: PMC6314186 DOI: 10.1037/emo0000447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive reappraisal is a commonly used form of emotion regulation that utilizes frontal-executive control to reframe an approaching emotional event to moderate its potential psychological impact. Use of cognitive reappraisal has been associated with diminished experience of anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as greater overall well-being. Using data from a study of 647 healthy young adults, we provide initial evidence that an association between typical use of cognitive reappraisal in daily life and the experience of anxiety and depressive symptoms is moderated by the microstructural integrity of the uncinate fasciculus, which provides a major anatomical link between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. Our findings are consistent with the nature of top-down regulation of bottom-up negative emotions and suggest the uncinate fasciculus may be a useful target in the search for biomarkers predicting not only disorder risk but also response to psychotherapy utilizing cognitive reappraisal. (PsycINFO Database Record
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