Mapping subcortical brain maturation during adolescence: evidence of hemisphere‐ and sex‐specific longitudinal changes

Abstract

Early to mid-adolescence is an important developmental period for subcortical brain maturation, but longitudinal studies of these neurodevelopmental changes are lacking. The present study acquired repeated magnetic resonance images from 60 adolescent subjects (28 female) at ages 12.5 and 16.5 years to map changes in subcortical structure volumes. Automated segmentation techniques optimized for longitudinal measurement were used to delineate volumes of the caudate, putamen, nucleus accumbens, pallidum, hippocampus, thalamus and the whole brain. Amygdala volumes were described using manual tracing methods. The results revealed heterogeneous maturation across the regions of interest (ROIs), and change was differentially moderated by sex and hemisphere. The caudate, thalamus and putamen declined in volume, more for females relative to males, and decreases in the putamen and thalamus were greater in the left hemisphere. The pallidum increased in size, but more so in the left hemisphere. While the left nucleus accumbens increased in size, the right accumbens decreased in size over the follow-up period. Increases in hippocampal volume were greater in the right hemisphere. While amygdala volume did not change over time, the left hemisphere was consistently larger than the right. These results suggest that subcortical brain development from early to middle adolescence is characterized by striking hemispheric specialization and sexual dimorphisms, and provide a framework for interpreting normal and abnormal changes in cognition, affect and behavior. Moreover, the differences in findings compared to previous cross-sectional research emphasize the importance of within-subject assessment of brain development during adolescence.

Family History Density of Alcoholism Relates to Left Nucleus Accumbens Volume in Adolescent Girls

“…Despite this limitation, the current sample of 140 youth is signifi cantly larger than some of the other published neuroimaging studies of subcortical brain volume in familial alcoholism (Benegal et al, 2007;Hanson et al, 2010;Hill et al, 2001). As previously noted, the correlation between manual tracing and automated segmentation techniques can be low (Morey et al, 2009), but automated techniques may be advantageous for delineation of small nuclei, such as the ventral striatum, which does not have clear visually demarcated boundaries and was delineated using an automated method in another study of adolescents (Dennison et al, 2013). However, because of the low correlations of automated techniques with manual tracing for subcortical regions, it is possible that relationships between brain volume and risk status for other ROIs in the analysis could have been missed due to insuffi cient reliability of the automated technique.…”

A Comparative Analysis of Patterns of Girls’ Attitudes towards Design and Technology: Botswana and Swaziland.

“…However, it must be noted that recent research has shown that the brain is not nearly as dichotomous as once thought. So according to the right brain vs left brain theory, for it to appeal to left-brain dominated learners, most of whom are females, (Dennison et al, 2013) the curriculum, its instruction and assessment procedures need to be developed to accommodate left-brain dominant talents and skills.…”

Correlatos estructurales de las alteraciones cognitivas en niños con TEA

“…Algunos de los resultados publicados por el grupo de Sussman son similares a los que encontraron Dennison et al (2013), quienes estudiaron los cambios de maduración en el estriado, globo pálido, hipocampo, amígdala y tálamo durante la adolescencia temprana y media utilizando un diseño longitudinal y consideraron que esta etapa se caracterizaba por cambios sorprendentes en la maduración subcortical del cerebro. En su estudio se adquirieron imágenes de resonancia magnética de 60 sujetos adolescentes (28 mujeres) con un rango de edad 12,5 y 16,5 años.…”

“…De forma similar, el hipocampo derecho no era más grande que el izquierdo en la línea de base, pero aumentó más que el izquierdo durante este período de desarrollo para ser significativamente mayor en el seguimiento, lo cual es consistente con los hallazgos de volúmenes del hipocampo derecho mayores en adultos normales (Pedazra, Bowers & Gilmore, 2004). Por tanto, el desarrollo cerebral subcortical desde la adolescencia temprana hasta la adolescencia media se caracteriza por la notable especialización hemisférica y los dimorfismos sexuales, y proporciona un marco para interpretar los cambios típicos y atípicos en la cognición, el afecto y el comportamiento (Dennison et al, 2013).…”

“…El tálamo mostró un pequeño aumento inicial en el volumen seguido por una ligera disminución. Este es uno de los pocos estudios que ha captado cambios en el desarrollo del volumen del tálamo (Brown & Jernigan, 2012;Dennison et al, 2013;Giedd et al, 1996aGiedd et al, , 1996bOstby et al, 2009;Reiss et al, 1996).…”