Pubertal maturation and sex effects on the default-mode network connectivity implicated in mood dysregulation

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Université Paris-Saclay
  • Université Paris Cité
  • Paris Brain Institute
  • Hospital Group Nord-Essonne
  • Heidelberg University 
  • Trinity College Dublin
  • University of Hamburg
  • Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
  • King's College London (KCL)
  • University of Montreal
  • University of Mannheim
  • French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)
  • University of Vermont
  • University of Nottingham
  • Tampere University
  • Medical University of Vienna
  • University College Dublin
  • Sorbonne Université

Abstract

This study examines the effects of puberty and sex on the intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) of brain networks, with a focus on the default-mode network (DMN). Consistently implicated in depressive disorders, the DMN’s function may interact with puberty and sex in the development of these disorders, whose onsets peak in adolescence, and which show strong sex disproportionality (females > males). The main question concerns how the DMN evolves with puberty as a function of sex. These effects are expected to involve within- and between-network iFC, particularly, the salience and the central-executive networks, consistent with the Triple-Network Model. Resting-state scans of an adolescent community sample (n = 304, male/female: 157/147; mean/std age: 14.6/0.41 years), from the IMAGEN database, were analyzed using the AFNI software suite and a data reduction strategy for the effects of puberty and sex. Three midline regions (medial prefrontal, pregenual anterior cingulate, and posterior cingulate), within the DMN and consistently implicated in mood disorders, were selected as seeds. Within- and between-network clusters of the DMN iFC changed with pubertal maturation differently in boys and girls (puberty-X-sex). Specifically, pubertal maturation predicted weaker iFC in girls and stronger iFC in boys. Finally, iFC was stronger in boys than girls independently of puberty. Brain–behavior associations indicated that lower connectivity of the anterior cingulate seed predicted higher internalizing symptoms at 2-year follow-up. In conclusion, weaker iFC of the anterior DMN may signal disconnections among circuits supporting mood regulation, conferring risk for internalizing disorders.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number103
JournalTranslational psychiatry
Volume9
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2019
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 30804326
ORCID /0000-0001-5099-0274/work/146166814
ORCID /0000-0003-1477-5395/work/146167112
ORCID /0000-0001-5398-5569/work/150329540