scholarly journals Mapping Cortical Brain Asymmetry in 17,141 Healthy Individuals Worldwide via the ENIGMA Consortium

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang-Zhen Kong ◽  
Samuel R. Mathias ◽  
Tulio Guadalupe ◽  
Christoph Abé ◽  
Ingrid Agartz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Brain Asymmetry ◽  
Brain Anatomy ◽  
Intracranial Volume ◽  
Healthy Individuals ◽  
Future Studies

AbstractHemispheric asymmetry is a cardinal feature of human brain organization. Altered brain asymmetry has also been linked to some cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders. Here the ENIGMA consortium presents the largest ever analysis of cerebral cortical asymmetry and its variability across individuals. Cortical thickness and surface area were assessed in MRI scans of 17,141 healthy individuals from 99 datasets worldwide. Results revealed widespread asymmetries at both hemispheric and regional levels, with a generally thicker cortex but smaller surface area in the left hemisphere relative to the right. Regionally, asymmetries of cortical thickness and/or surface area were found in the inferior frontal gyrus, transverse temporal gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, and entorhinal cortex. These regions are involved in lateralized functions, including language and visuospatial processing. In addition to population-level asymmetries, variability in brain asymmetry was related to sex, age, and brain size (indexed by intracranial volume). Interestingly, we did not find significant associations between asymmetries and handedness. Finally, with two independent pedigree datasets (N = 1,443 and 1,113, respectively), we found several asymmetries showing modest but highly reliable heritability. The structural asymmetries identified, and their variabilities and heritability provide a reference resource for future studies on the genetic basis of brain asymmetry and altered laterality in cognitive, neurological, and psychiatric disorders.Significance StatementLeft-right asymmetry is a key feature of the human brain's structure and function. It remains unclear which cortical regions are asymmetrical on average in the population, and how biological factors such as age, sex and genetic variation affect these asymmetries. Here we describe by far the largest ever study of cerebral cortical brain asymmetry, based on data from 17,141 participants. We found a global anterior-posterior 'torque' pattern in cortical thickness, together with various regional asymmetries at the population level, which have not been previously described, as well as effects of age, sex, and heritability estimates. From these data, we have created an on-line resource that will serve future studies of human brain anatomy in health and disease.

scholarly journals Mapping cortical brain asymmetry in 17,141 healthy individuals worldwide via the ENIGMA Consortium

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (22) ◽  
pp. E5154-E5163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang-Zhen Kong ◽  
Samuel R. Mathias ◽  
Tulio Guadalupe ◽  
David C. Glahn ◽  
Barbara Franke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Area ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Brain Asymmetry ◽  
Parahippocampal Gyrus ◽  
Intracranial Volume ◽  
Healthy Individuals ◽  
Brain Organization

Hemispheric asymmetry is a cardinal feature of human brain organization. Altered brain asymmetry has also been linked to some cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders. Here, the ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) Consortium presents the largest-ever analysis of cerebral cortical asymmetry and its variability across individuals. Cortical thickness and surface area were assessed in MRI scans of 17,141 healthy individuals from 99 datasets worldwide. Results revealed widespread asymmetries at both hemispheric and regional levels, with a generally thicker cortex but smaller surface area in the left hemisphere relative to the right. Regionally, asymmetries of cortical thickness and/or surface area were found in the inferior frontal gyrus, transverse temporal gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, and entorhinal cortex. These regions are involved in lateralized functions, including language and visuospatial processing. In addition to population-level asymmetries, variability in brain asymmetry was related to sex, age, and intracranial volume. Interestingly, we did not find significant associations between asymmetries and handedness. Finally, with two independent pedigree datasets (n = 1,443 and 1,113, respectively), we found several asymmetries showing significant, replicable heritability. The structural asymmetries identified and their variabilities and heritability provide a reference resource for future studies on the genetic basis of brain asymmetry and altered laterality in cognitive, neurological, and psychiatric disorders.

scholarly journals Sex differences in cortical and subcortical human brain anatomy

F1000Research ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Herron ◽  
Xiaojian Kang ◽  
David L. Woods
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Gray Matter ◽  
Brain Anatomy ◽  
Intracranial Volume ◽  
Cortical Surface ◽  
Bending Energy ◽  
Subcortical Structures ◽  
Automated Methods

Previous research has reported many sex differences in cortical and subcortical anatomy, but only a subset of findings is consistent across studies. Here, we used improved Freesurfer-based automated methods to analyze the properties of the cortex and seven subcortical structures in young, right-handed subjects (69 male and 69 female), carefully matched in age and education. Significant sex differences were observed. Females had greater gyral complexity (i.e., greater bending energy). In contrast, males had greater unadjusted cortical surface area (+10.3%), but area differences were reduced (to +2.8%) when area was adjusted for total intracranial volume (ICV). There were no significant omnibus sex differences in cortical thickness. Males showed larger unadjusted subcortical gray matter structural volumes, as well as larger ICV-adjusted volumes in the amygdala. These results help to resolve some of the inconsistencies in previous studies of sex differences in brain anatomy.

scholarly journals Cortical Volume, Thickness, and Surface Area in the Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Helena M. Blumen ◽  
Emily Schwartz ◽  
Gilles Allali ◽  
Olivier Beauchet ◽  
Michele Callisaya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Area ◽  
Sex Education ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Clinical Stage ◽  
White Matter Lesions ◽  
Cortical Atrophy ◽  
Intracranial Volume ◽  
Cortical Volume ◽  
Cognitive Risk ◽  
Cognitive Complaint

Background: The motoric cognitive risk (MCR) syndrome is a pre-clinical stage of dementia characterized by slow gait and cognitive complaint. Yet, the brain substrates of MCR are not well established. Objective: To examine cortical thickness, volume, and surface area associated with MCR in the MCR-Neuroimaging Consortium, which harmonizes image processing/analysis of multiple cohorts. Methods: Two-hundred MRIs (M age 72.62 years; 47.74%female; 33.17%MCR) from four different cohorts (50 each) were first processed with FreeSurfer 6.0, and then analyzed using multivariate and univariate general linear models with 1,000 bootstrapped samples (n-1; with resampling). All models adjusted for age, sex, education, white matter lesions, total intracranial volume, and study site. Results: Overall, cortical thickness was lower in individuals with MCR than in those without MCR. There was a trend in the same direction for cortical volume (p = 0.051). Regional cortical thickness was also lower among individuals with MCR than individuals without MCR in prefrontal, insular, temporal, and parietal regions. Conclusion: Cortical atrophy in MCR is pervasive, and include regions previously associated with human locomotion, but also social, cognitive, affective, and motor functions. Cortical atrophy in MCR is easier to detect in cortical thickness than volume and surface area because thickness is more affected by healthy and pathological aging.

scholarly journals The contribution of cortical thickness and surface area to gray matter asymmetries in the healthy human brain

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (12) ◽  
pp. 6011-6022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Koelkebeck ◽  
Jun Miyata ◽  
Manabu Kubota ◽  
Waldemar Kohl ◽  
Shuraku Son ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Gray Matter ◽  
Healthy Human

scholarly journals Brain structural differences between 73- and 92-year olds matched for childhood intelligence, social background, and intracranial volume

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart J. Ritchie ◽  
David Alexander Dickie ◽  
Simon R. Cox ◽  
Maria del C. Valdés Hernández ◽  
Alison Pattie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
White Matter Hyperintensity ◽  
Socioeconomic Background ◽  
Intracranial Volume ◽  
Cortical Surface ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
Cortical Surface Area

AbstractFully characterizing age differences in the brain is a key task for combatting ageing-related cognitive decline. Using propensity score matching on two independent, narrow-age cohorts, we used data on childhood cognitive ability, socioeconomic background, and intracranial volume to match participants at mean age 92 years (n = 42) to very similar participants at mean age 73 (n = 126). Examining a variety of global and regional structural neuroimaging variables, there were large differences in grey and white matter volumes, cortical surface area, cortical thickness, and white matter hyperintensity volume and spatial extent. In a mediation analysis, the total volume of white matter hyperintensities and total cortical surface area jointly mediated 24.9% of the relation between age and general cognitive ability (tissue volumes and cortical thickness were not significant mediators in this analysis). These findings provide an unusual and valuable perspective on neurostructural ageing, in which brains from the eighth and tenth decades of life differ widely despite the same cognitive, socio-economic, and brain-volumetric starting points.

scholarly journals Significance of Normalization on Anatomical MRI Measures in Predicting Alzheimer’s Disease

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Zhou ◽  
Mohammed Goryawala ◽  
Mercedes Cabrerizo ◽  
Warren Barker ◽  
Ranjan Duara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Feature Selection Method ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Intracranial Volume ◽  
Single Measure ◽  
Subcortical Volumes ◽  
Subcortical Volume

This study establishes a new approach for combining neuroimaging and neuropsychological measures for an optimal decisional space to classify subjects with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This approach relies on a multivariate feature selection method with different MRI normalization techniques. Subcortical volume, cortical thickness, and surface area measures are obtained using MRIs from 189 participants (129 normal controls and 60 AD patients). Statistically significant variables were selected for each combination model to construct a multidimensional space for classification. Different normalization approaches were explored to gauge the effect on classification performance using a support vector machine classifier. Results indicate that the Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) measure is most discriminative among single-measure models, while subcortical volume combined with MMSE is the most effective multivariate model for AD classification. The study demonstrates that subcortical volumes need not be normalized, whereas cortical thickness should be normalized either by intracranial volume or mean thickness, and surface area is a weak indicator of AD with and without normalization. On the significant brain regions, a nearly perfect symmetry is observed for subcortical volumes and cortical thickness, and a significant reduction in thickness is particularly seen in the temporal lobe, which is associated with brain deficits characterizing AD.

scholarly journals Variations in structural MRI quality significantly impact commonly used measures of brain anatomy

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alysha D. Gilmore ◽  
Nicholas J. Buser ◽  
Jamie L. Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Image Quality ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Structural Mri ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Brain Anatomy ◽  
Cortical Surface ◽  
Cortical Surface Area ◽  
Multiple Regions ◽  
Subcortical Volumes

AbstractSubject motion can introduce noise into neuroimaging data and result in biased estimations of brain structure. In-scanner motion can compromise data quality in a number of ways and varies widely across developmental and clinical populations. However, quantification of structural image quality is often limited to proxy or indirect measures gathered from functional scans; this may be missing true differences related to these potential artifacts. In this study, we take advantage of novel informatic tools, the CAT12 toolbox, to more directly measure image quality from T1-weighted images to understand if these measures of image quality: (1) relate to rigorous quality-control checks visually completed by human raters; (2) are associated with sociodemographic variables of interest; (3) influence regional estimates of cortical surface area, cortical thickness, and subcortical volumes from the commonly used Freesurfer tool suite. We leverage public-access data that includes a community-based sample of children and adolescents, spanning a large age-range (N = 388; ages 5–21). Interestingly, even after visually inspecting our data, we find image quality significantly impacts derived cortical surface area, cortical thickness, and subcortical volumes from multiple regions across the brain (~ 23.4% of all areas investigated). We believe these results are important for research groups completing structural MRI studies using Freesurfer or other morphometric tools. As such, future studies should consider using measures of image quality to minimize the influence of this potential confound in group comparisons or studies focused on individual differences.

scholarly journals Planar cell polarity pathway and development of the human visual cortex

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Shin ◽  
Shaojie Ma ◽  
Edith Hofer ◽  
Yash Patel ◽  
Gennady V. Roshchupkin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Cytochrome Oxidase ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Cell Polarity ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Planar Cell Polarity ◽  
Chromosome 17 ◽  
Intracranial Volume ◽  
Cortical Regions

AbstractThe radial unit hypothesis provides a framework for global (proliferation) and regional (distribution) expansion of the primate cerebral cortex. Using principal component analysis (PCA), we have identified cortical regions with shared variance in their surface area and cortical thickness, respectively, segmented from magnetic resonance images obtained in 23,800 participants. We then carried out meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies of the first two principal components for each phenotype. For surface area (but not cortical thickness), we have detected strong associations between each of the components and single nucleotide polymorphisms in a number of gene loci. The first (global) component was associated mainly with loci on chromosome 17 (9.5e-32 ≤ p ≤ 2.8e-10), including those detected previously as linked with intracranial volume and/or general cognitive function. The second (regional) component captured shared variation in the surface area of the primary and adjacent secondary visual cortices and showed a robust association with polymorphisms in a locus on chromosome 14 containing Disheveled Associated Activator of Morphogenesis 1 (DAAM1; p=2.4e-34). DAAM1 is a key component in the planar-cell-polarity signaling pathway. In follow-up studies, we have focused on the latter finding and established that: (1) DAAM1 is highly expressed between 12th and 22nd post-conception weeks in the human cerebral cortex; (2) genes co-expressed with DAAM1 in the primary visual cortex are enriched in mitochondria-related pathways; and (3) volume of the lateral geniculate nucleus, which projects to regions of the visual cortex staining for cytochrome oxidase (a mitochondrial enzyme), correlates with the surface area of the visual cortex in major-allele homozygotes but not in carriers of the minor allele. Altogether, we speculate that, in concert with thalamocortical input to cortical subplate, DAAM1 enables migration of neurons to cytochrome-oxidase rich regions of the visual cortex, and, in turn, facilitates regional expansion of this set of cortical regions during development.

scholarly journals Effects of Deafness and Sign Language Experience on the Human Brain: Voxel-based and Surface-based Morphometry

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen McCullough ◽  
Karen Emmorey
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Native Signers ◽  
Surface Based Morphometry

We investigated, using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), how deafness and sign language experience affect the anatomical structures of the human brain by comparing gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) structures across congenitally deaf native signers, hearing native signers, and hearing sign-naïve controls (n = 90). We also compared the same groups on cortical thickness, surface area, and local gyrification using surface-based morphometry (SBM). Both VBM and SBM results revealed deafness-related changes in visual cortices and right frontal lobe. The GM in the auditory cortices did not appear to be affected by deafness; however, there was a significant WM reduction in left Heschl's gyrus for deaf signers only. The SBM comparisons revealed changes associated with lifelong signing experience: expansions in the surface area within left anterior temporal and left occipital lobes, and a reduction in cortical thickness in the right occipital lobe for deaf and hearing signers. Structural changes within these brain regions may be related to adaptations in the neural networks involved in processing signed language (i.e., visual perception of face and body movements). Hearing native signers also had unique neuroanatomical changes (e.g., reduced gyrification in premotor areas), perhaps due to lifelong experience with both a spoken and a signed language.

scholarly journals Altered structural brain asymmetry in autism spectrum disorder: large-scale analysis via the ENIGMA Consortium

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merel C. Postema ◽  
Daan van Rooij ◽  
Evdokia Anagnostou ◽  
Celso Arango ◽  
Guillaume Auzias ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Brain Asymmetry ◽  
Scale Analysis ◽  
Large Scale Analysis ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Structural Brain

AbstractBackgroundLeft-right asymmetry is an important organizing feature of the healthy brain. Various studies have reported altered structural brain asymmetry in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, findings have been inconsistent, likely due to limited sample sizes and low statistical power.MethodsWe investigated 1,774 subjects with ASD and 1,809 controls, from 54 datasets, for differences in the asymmetry of thickness and surface area of 34 cerebral cortical regions. We also examined global hemispheric measures of cortical thickness and area asymmetry, and volumetric asymmetries of subcortical structures. Data were obtained via the ASD Working Group of the ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) consortium. T1-weighted MRI data were processed with a single protocol using FreeSurfer and the Desikan-Killiany atlas.ResultsASD was significantly associated with reduced leftward asymmetry of total hemispheric average cortical thickness, compared to controls. Eight regional thickness asymmetries, distributed over the cortex, also showed significant associations with diagnosis after correction for multiple comparisons, for which asymmetry was again generally lower in ASD versus controls. In addition, the medial orbitofrontal surface area was less rightward asymmetric in ASD than controls, and the putamen volume was more leftward asymmetric in ASD than controls. The largest effect size had Cohen’sd= 0.15. Most effects did not depend on age, sex, IQ, or disorder severity.ConclusionAltered lateralized neurodevelopment is suggested in ASD, affecting widespread cortical regions with diverse functions. Large-scale analysis was necessary to reliably detect, and accurately describe, subtle alterations of structural brain asymmetry in this disorder.

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