1
|
Fenske SJ, Liu J, Chen H, Diniz MA, Stephens RL, Cornea E, Gilmore JH, Gao W. Sex differences in brain-behavior relationships in the first two years of life. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.01.31.578147. [PMID: 38352542 PMCID: PMC10862872 DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.31.578147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/24/2024]
Abstract
Background Evidence for sex differences in cognition in childhood is established, but less is known about the underlying neural mechanisms for these differences. Recent findings suggest the existence of brain-behavior relationship heterogeneities during infancy; however, it remains unclear whether sex underlies these heterogeneities during this critical period when sex-related behavioral differences arise. Methods A sample of 316 infants was included with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans at neonate (3 weeks), 1, and 2 years of age. We used multiple linear regression to test interactions between sex and resting-state functional connectivity on behavioral scores of working memory, inhibitory self-control, intelligence, and anxiety collected at 4 years of age. Results We found six age-specific, intra-hemispheric connections showing significant and robust sex differences in functional connectivity-behavior relationships. All connections are either with the prefrontal cortex or the temporal pole, which has direct anatomical pathways to the prefrontal cortex. Sex differences in functional connectivity only emerge when associated with behavior, and not in functional connectivity alone. Furthermore, at neonate and 2 years of age, these age-specific connections displayed greater connectivity in males and lower connectivity in females in association with better behavioral scores. Conclusions Taken together, we critically capture robust and conserved brain mechanisms that are distinct to sex and are defined by their relationship to behavioral outcomes. Our results establish brain-behavior mechanisms as an important feature in the search for sex differences during development.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sonja J Fenske
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048
| | - Janelle Liu
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048
| | - Haitao Chen
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048
- David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90025
| | - Marcio A Diniz
- The Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Research Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048
| | - Rebecca L Stephens
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, 27599
| | - Emil Cornea
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, 27599
| | - John H Gilmore
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, 27599
| | - Wei Gao
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048
- David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90025
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Fenske SJ, Liu J, Chen H, Diniz MA, Stephens RL, Cornea E, Gilmore JH, Gao W. Sex differences in resting state functional connectivity across the first two years of life. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2023; 60:101235. [PMID: 36966646 PMCID: PMC10066534 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2022] [Revised: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/19/2023] [Indexed: 03/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Sex differences in behavior have been reported from infancy through adulthood, but little is known about sex effects on functional circuitry in early infancy. Moreover, the relationship between early sex effects on the functional architecture of the brain and later behavioral performance remains to be elucidated. In this study, we used resting-state fMRI and a novel heatmap analysis to examine sex differences in functional connectivity with cross-sectional and longitudinal mixed models in a large cohort of infants (n = 319 neonates, 1-, and 2-year-olds). An adult dataset (n = 92) was also included for comparison. We investigated the relationship between sex differences in functional circuitry and later measures of language (collected in 1- and 2-year-olds) as well as indices of anxiety, executive function, and intelligence (collected in 4-year-olds). Brain areas showing the most significant sex differences were age-specific across infancy, with two temporal regions demonstrating consistent differences. Measures of functional connectivity showing sex differences in infancy were significantly associated with subsequent behavioral scores of language, executive function, and intelligence. Our findings provide insights into the effects of sex on dynamic neurodevelopmental trajectories during infancy and lay an important foundation for understanding the mechanisms underlying sex differences in health and disease.
Collapse
|
3
|
Kardan O, Kaplan S, Wheelock MD, Feczko E, Day TKM, Miranda-Domínguez Ó, Meyer D, Eggebrecht AT, Moore LA, Sung S, Chamberlain TA, Earl E, Snider K, Graham A, Berman MG, Uğurbil K, Yacoub E, Elison JT, Smyser CD, Fair DA, Rosenberg MD. Resting-state functional connectivity identifies individuals and predicts age in 8-to-26-month-olds. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2022; 56:101123. [PMID: 35751994 PMCID: PMC9234342 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2022] [Revised: 05/20/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) measured with fMRI has been used to characterize functional brain maturation in typically and atypically developing children and adults. However, its reliability and utility for predicting development in infants and toddlers is less well understood. Here, we use fMRI data from the Baby Connectome Project study to measure the reliability and uniqueness of rsFC in infants and toddlers and predict age in this sample (8-to-26 months old; n = 170). We observed medium reliability for within-session infant rsFC in our sample, and found that individual infant and toddler's connectomes were sufficiently distinct for successful functional connectome fingerprinting. Next, we trained and tested support vector regression models to predict age-at-scan with rsFC. Models successfully predicted novel infants' age within ± 3.6 months error and a prediction R2 = .51. To characterize the anatomy of predictive networks, we grouped connections into 11 infant-specific resting-state functional networks defined in a data-driven manner. We found that connections between regions of the same network-i.e. within-network connections-predicted age significantly better than between-network connections. Looking ahead, these findings can help characterize changes in functional brain organization in infancy and toddlerhood and inform work predicting developmental outcome measures in this age range.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Sydney Kaplan
- Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Eric Earl
- Oregon Health & Science University, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
4
|
Dufford AJ, Salzwedel AP, Gilmore JH, Gao W, Kim P. Maternal trait anxiety symptoms, frontolimbic resting-state functional connectivity, and cognitive development in infancy. Dev Psychobiol 2021; 63:e22166. [PMID: 34292595 PMCID: PMC10775911 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2019] [Revised: 06/13/2021] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Exposure to maternal anxiety symptoms during infancy has been associated with difficulties in development and greater risk for developing anxiety later in life. Although previous studies have examined associations between prenatal maternal distress, infant brain development, and developmental outcomes, it is still largely unclear if there are associations between postnatal anxiety, infant brain development, and cognitive development in infancy. In this study, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the association between maternal anxiety symptoms and resting-state functional connectivity in the first year of life. We also examine the association between frontolimbic functional connectivity and infant cognitive development. The sample consisted of 21 infants (mean age = 24.15 months, SD = 4.17) that were scanned during their natural sleep using. We test the associations between maternal trait anxiety symptoms and amygdala-anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) functional connectivity, a neural circuit implicated in early life stress exposure. We also test the associations between amygdala-ACC connectivity and cognitive development. We found a significant negative association between maternal trait anxiety symptoms and left amygdala-right ACC functional connectivity (p < .05, false discovery rate corrected). We found a significant negative association between left amygdala-right ACC functional connectivity and infant cognitive development (p < .05). These findings have potential implications for understanding the role of postpartum maternal anxiety symptoms in functional brain and cognitive development in infancy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Andrew P. Salzwedel
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - John H. Gilmore
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Wei Gao
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Pilyoung Kim
- Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Chen H, Liu J, Chen Y, Salzwedel A, Cornea E, Gilmore JH, Gao W. Developmental heatmaps of brain functional connectivity from newborns to 6-year-olds. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2021; 50:100976. [PMID: 34174513 PMCID: PMC8246150 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2021] [Revised: 05/07/2021] [Accepted: 06/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Heatmaps quantify degrees of developmental changes in functional connectivity. More changes are observed in the first than second postnatal year, driven by girls. Most change is observed from ages 2–4 compared with any other age span. Limbic and subcortical areas show more changes than primary sensory regions. Consistent trajectories of functional connectivity are found across validations.
Different functional networks exhibit distinct longitudinal trajectories throughout development, but the timeline of the dynamics of functional connectivity across the whole brain remains to be elucidated. Here we used resting-state fMRI to investigate the development of voxel-level changes in functional connectivity across the first six years of life. Globally, we found that developmental changes in functional connectivity are nonlinear with more changes during the first postnatal year than the second, followed by most significant changes from ages 2–4 and from ages 4–6. However, the overall global difference observed between the first and second year appears to have been driven by girls. Limbic and subcortical areas consistently demonstrated the most substantial changes, whereas primary sensory areas were the most stable. These patterns were consistent in full-term and preterm subgroups. Validation on randomly divided subsamples as well as in an independent cross-sectional sample revealed global patterns consistent with the main results. Overall, the derived developmental heatmaps reveal novel dynamics underlying functional circuit development during the first 6 years of life.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Haitao Chen
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute (BIRI), Department of Biomedical Sciences and Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA; Department of Bioengineering, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Janelle Liu
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute (BIRI), Department of Biomedical Sciences and Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA
| | - Yuanyuan Chen
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute (BIRI), Department of Biomedical Sciences and Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA
| | - Andrew Salzwedel
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute (BIRI), Department of Biomedical Sciences and Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA
| | - Emil Cornea
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - John H Gilmore
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Wei Gao
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute (BIRI), Department of Biomedical Sciences and Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA; Department of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Liu J, Chen Y, Stephens R, Cornea E, Goldman B, Gilmore JH, Gao W. Hippocampal functional connectivity development during the first two years indexes 4-year working memory performance. Cortex 2021; 138:165-177. [PMID: 33691225 PMCID: PMC8058274 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2020] [Revised: 11/03/2020] [Accepted: 02/05/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
The hippocampus is a key limbic region involved in higher-order cognitive processes including learning and memory. Although both typical and atypical functional connectivity patterns of the hippocampus have been well-studied in adults, the developmental trajectory of hippocampal connectivity during infancy and how it relates to later working memory performance remains to be elucidated. Here we used resting state fMRI (rsfMRI) during natural sleep to examine the longitudinal development of hippocampal functional connectivity using a large cohort (N = 202) of infants at 3 weeks (neonate), 1 year, and 2 years of age. Next, we used multivariate modeling to investigate the relationship between both cross-sectional and longitudinal growth in hippocampal connectivity and 4-year working memory outcome. Results showed robust local functional connectivity of the hippocampus in neonates with nearby limbic and subcortical regions, with dramatic maturation and increasing connectivity with key default mode network (DMN) regions resulting in adult-like topology of the hippocampal functional connectivity by the end of the first year. This pattern was stabilized and further consolidated by 2 years of age. Importantly, cross-sectional and longitudinal measures of hippocampal connectivity in the first year predicted subsequent behavioral measures of working memory at 4 years of age. Taken together, our findings provide insight into the development of hippocampal functional circuits underlying working memory during this early critical period.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Janelle Liu
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, and Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| | - Yuanyuan Chen
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, and Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| | - Rebecca Stephens
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
| | - Emil Cornea
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
| | - Barbara Goldman
- FPG Child Development Institute and Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
| | - John H Gilmore
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
| | - Wei Gao
- Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, and Imaging, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA; David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Gao W, Chen Y, Cornea E, Goldman BD, Gilmore JH. Neonatal brain connectivity outliers identify over forty percent of IQ outliers at 4 years of age. Brain Behav 2020; 10:e01846. [PMID: 32945129 PMCID: PMC7749582 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.1846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2020] [Revised: 09/01/2020] [Accepted: 09/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Defining reliable brain markers for the prediction of abnormal behavioral outcomes remains an urgent but extremely challenging task in neuroscience research. This is particularly important for infant studies given the most dramatic brain and behavioral growth during infancy. METHODS In this study, we proposed a novel prediction scheme through abstracting individual newborn's whole-brain functional connectivity pattern to three outlier measures (Triple O) and tested the hypothesis that neonates identified as "brain outliers" based on Triple O were more likely to develop as IQ outliers at 4 years of age. Without need for training with behavioral data, Triple O represents a novel proof-of-concept approach to predict later IQ outcomes based on neonatal brain data. RESULTS Triple O correctly identified 42.1% true IQ outliers among a mixed cohort of 175 newborns with different term, twin, and maternal disorder statuses. Triple O also reached a high level of specificity (96.2%) and overall accuracy (90.3%). Further incorporating a demographic information indicator, the enhanced Triple O+ could further differentiate between high and low 4YR IQ outliers. Validation tests against seven independent reference samples revealed highly consistent results and a minimum sample size of ~50 for robust performance. CONCLUSIONS Considering that postnatal brain growth and various environmental factors likely also contribute to 4YR IQ, the fact that Triple O, based purely on neonatal functional connectivity data, could identify >40% of 4YR IQ outliers is striking. Together with the very high level of specificity, each outlier predicted by Triple O represents a meaningful risk but future efforts are needed to explore ways to identify the rest of outliers. Overall, with no need for training, a high level of robustness, and a minimal requirement on sample size, the proposed Triple O approach demonstrates great potential to predict later outlying IQ performances using neonatal functional connectivity data.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wei Gao
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Imaging, Biomedical Imaging Research Institute (BIRI), Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Department of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Yuanyuan Chen
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Imaging, Biomedical Imaging Research Institute (BIRI), Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Emil Cornea
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Barbara D Goldman
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - John H Gilmore
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| |
Collapse
|