Regional patterns of human cortex development colocalize with underlying neurobiology

Human brain morphology undergoes complex changes over the lifespan. Despite recent progress in tracking brain development via normative models, current knowledge of underlying biological mechanisms is highly limited. We demonstrate that human cerebral cortex development and aging trajectories unfold along patterns of molecular and cellular brain organization, traceable from population-level to individual developmental trajectories. During childhood and adolescence, cortex-wide spatial distributions of dopaminergic receptors, inhibitory neurons, glial cell populations, and brain-metabolic features explain up to 50% of variance associated with a lifespan model of regional cortical thickness trajectories. In contrast, modeled cortical change patterns during adulthood are best explained by cholinergic and glutamatergic neurotransmitter receptor and transporter distributions. These relationships are supported by developmental gene expression trajectories and translate to individual longitudinal data from over 8,000 adolescents, explaining up to 59% of developmental change at cohort- and 18% at single-subject level. Integrating neurobiological brain atlases with normative modeling and population neuroimaging provides a biologically meaningful path to understand brain development and aging in living humans.

Resting state changes in aging and Parkinson's disease are shaped by underlying neurotransmission - a normative modeling study

BACKGROUND

Human healthy and pathological aging is linked to a steady decline in brain resting state activity and connectivity measures. The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying these changes remain poorly understood.

METHODS

Making use of recent developments in normative modeling and availability of in vivo maps for various neurochemical systems, we test in the UK Biobank cohort (N=25917) if and how age- and Parkinson's disease related resting state changes in commonly applied local and global activity and connectivity measures co-localize with underlying neurotransmitter systems.

RESULTS

We find the distributions of several major neurotransmitter systems including serotonergic, dopaminergic, noradrenergic, and glutamatergic neurotransmission to correlate with age-related changes as observed across functional activity and connectivity measures. Co-localization patterns in Parkinson's disease deviate from normative aging trajectories for these, as well as for cholinergic and GABAergic, neurotransmission. The deviation from normal co-localization of brain function and GABAa correlates with disease duration.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings provide new insights into molecular mechanisms underlying age- and Parkinson's related brain functional changes by extending the existing evidence elucidating the vulnerability of specific neurochemical attributes to normal aging and Parkinson's disease. The results particularly indicate that alongside dopamine and serotonin, increased vulnerability of glutamatergic, cholinergic, and GABAergic systems may also contribute to Parkinson's disease-related functional alterations. Combining normative modeling and neurotransmitter mapping may aid future research and drug development through deeper understanding of neurophysiological mechanisms underlying specific clinical conditions.

Sex-dependent clinical presentation, body image, and endocrine status in long-term remitted anorexia nervosa

OBJECTIVE

Although anorexia nervosa (AN) in males has recently gained attention, knowledge of its psychological and physiological outcomes is still scarce. We explore sex-specific characteristics of long-term remitted AN with respect to residual eating disorder (ED) psychopathology, body image, and endocrinology.

METHOD

We recruited 33 patients with AN in remission for at least 18 months (24 women, 9 men) and 36 matched healthy controls (HCs). Eating disorder psychopathology and body image ideals were assessed via clinical interviews, questionnaires, and an interactive 3D body morphing tool. Plasma levels of leptin, free triiodothyronine, cortisol, and sex hormones were quantified. Univariate models controlled for age and weight were used to test for the effects of diagnosis and sex.

RESULTS

Both patient groups showed residual ED psychopathology but normal weight and hormone levels relative to HCs. Male remitted patients demonstrated significantly stronger muscularity-focused body image ideals, evident in interviews, self-reports, and behavioural data, than both female patients and HCs.

CONCLUSIONS

Sex-specific body image characteristics in patients with remitted AN point towards the need to adjust test instruments and diagnostic criteria to male-specific psychopathology. In the future, sufficiently powered studies should evaluate the risk of men with AN developing muscle dysmorphia in the long term.

Beware 'persuasive communication devices' when writing and reading scientific articles

Authors rely on a range of devices and techniques to attract and maintain the interest of readers, and to convince them of the merits of the author's point of view. However, when writing a scientific article, authors must use these 'persuasive communication devices' carefully. In particular, they must be explicit about the limitations of their work, avoid obfuscation, and resist the temptation to oversell their results. Here we discuss a list of persuasive communication devices and we encourage authors, as well as reviewers and editors, to think carefully about their use.

Revealing the neurobiology underlying interpersonal neural synchronization with multimodal data fusion

Humans synchronize with one another to foster successful interactions. Here, we use a multimodal data fusion approach with the aim of elucidating the neurobiological mechanisms by which interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) occurs. Our meta-analysis of 22 functional magnetic resonance imaging and 69 near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning experiments (740 and 3721 subjects) revealed robust brain regional correlates of INS in the right temporoparietal junction and left ventral prefrontal cortex. Integrating this meta-analytic information with public databases, biobehavioral and brain-functional association analyses suggested that INS involves sensory-integrative hubs with functional connections to mentalizing and attention networks. On the molecular and genetic levels, we found INS to be associated with GABAergic neurotransmission and layer IV/V neuronal circuits, protracted developmental gene expression patterns, and disorders of neurodevelopment. Although limited by the indirect nature of phenotypic-molecular association analyses, our findings generate new testable hypotheses on the neurobiological basis of INS.