Stability of Cortical Thinning in Persons at Increased Familial Risk for Major Depressive Disorder Across 8 Years

Polygenic architecture of brain structure and function, behaviors, and psychopathologies in children

The human brain undergoes structural and functional changes during childhood, a critical period in cognitive and behavioral development. Understanding the genetic architecture of the brain development in children can offer valuable insights into the development of the brain, cognition, and behaviors. Here, we integrated brain imaging-genetic-phenotype data from over 8,600 preadolescent children of diverse ethnic backgrounds using multivariate statistical techniques. We found a low-to-moderate level of SNP-based heritability in most IDPs, which is lower compared to the adult brain. Using sparse generalized canonical correlation analysis (SGCCA), we identified several covariation patterns among genome-wide polygenic scores (GPSs) of 29 traits, 7 different modalities of brain imaging-derived phenotypes (IDPs), and 266 cognitive and psychological phenotype data. In structural MRI, significant positive associations were observed between total grey matter volume, left ventral diencephalon volume, surface area of right accumbens and the GPSs of cognition-related traits. Conversely, negative associations were found with the GPSs of ADHD, depression and neuroticism. Additionally, we identified a significant positive association between educational attainment GPS and regional brain activation during the N-back task. The BMI GPS showed a positive association with fractional anisotropy (FA) of connectivity between the cerebellum cortex and amygdala in diffusion MRI, while the GPSs for educational attainment and cannabis use were negatively associated with the same IDPs. Our GPS-based prediction models revealed substantial genetic contributions to cognitive variability, while the genetic basis for many mental and behavioral phenotypes remained elusive. This study delivers a comprehensive map of the relationships between genetic profiles, neuroanatomical diversity, and the spectrum of cognitive and behavioral traits in preadolescence.

Assessing the utility of a novel cortical marker of delay discounting (C-DD) in two independent samples of early adolescents: Links with externalizing pathology

Delay discounting is a well-established risk factor for risky behaviors and the development of externalizing spectrum disorders. Building upon recent work that developed a novel cortical marker of delay discounting (C-DD) in adult samples, the objective of this study was to test whether the C-DD relates to delay discounting and subsequently externalizing pathology in adolescent samples. The current study used two samples: 9992 early adolescents participating in the ABCD study (Mage = 9.93 years old, 48.7% female), and 56 early adolescents recruited from the community (Mage = 12.27 years old, 55.4% female). Cortical thickness was estimated using the FreeSurfer standard pipeline, and the cortical marker of delay discounting (C-DD) was calculated based on procedures outlined by the initial validation study. All data are cross-sectional in nature. As expected, C-DD was positively related to delay discounting in the ABCD sample, even after accounting for age, biological sex, collection site and data quality indicators. Moreover, results showed that C-DD was discriminately associated with externalizing, but not internalizing, symptoms in both samples of young adolescents. Findings replicate those found in adult samples, suggestive that C-DD may be a useful neuroanatomical marker of youth delay discounting. Replication of findings in other samples will be needed to determine whether C-DD has translational relevance to understanding externalizing psychopathology in adolescent samples.

Cognitive Function in People With Familial Risk of Depression

Importance

Cognitive impairment in depression is poorly understood. Family history of depression is a potentially useful risk marker for cognitive impairment, facilitating early identification and targeted intervention in those at highest risk, even if they do not themselves have depression. Several research cohorts have emerged recently that enable findings to be compared according to varying depths of family history phenotyping, in some cases also with genetic data, across the life span.

Objective

To investigate associations between familial risk of depression and cognitive performance in 4 independent cohorts with varied depth of assessment, using both family history and genetic risk measures.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This study used data from the Three Generations at High and Low Risk of Depression Followed Longitudinally (TGS) family study (data collected from 1982 to 2015) and 3 large population cohorts, including the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study (data collected from 2016 to 2021), National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health; data collected from 1994 to 2018), and UK Biobank (data collected from 2006 to 2022). Children and adults with or without familial risk of depression were included. Cross-sectional analyses were conducted from March to June 2022.

Exposures

Family history (across 1 or 2 prior generations) and polygenic risk of depression.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Neurocognitive tests at follow-up. Regression models were adjusted for confounders and corrected for multiple comparisons.

Results

A total of 57 308 participants were studied, including 87 from TGS (42 [48%] female; mean [SD] age, 19.7 [6.6] years), 10 258 from ABCD (4899 [48%] female; mean [SD] age, 12.0 [0.7] years), 1064 from Add Health (584 [49%] female; mean [SD] age, 37.8 [1.9] years), and 45 899 from UK Biobank (23 605 [51%] female; mean [SD] age, 64.0 [7.7] years). In the younger cohorts (TGS, ABCD, and Add Health), family history of depression was primarily associated with lower performance in the memory domain, and there were indications that this may be partly associated with educational and socioeconomic factors. In the older UK Biobank cohort, there were associations with processing speed, attention, and executive function, with little evidence of education or socioeconomic influences. These associations were evident even in participants who had never been depressed themselves. Effect sizes between familial risk of depression and neurocognitive test performance were largest in TGS; the largest standardized mean differences in primary analyses were -0.55 (95% CI, -1.49 to 0.38) in TGS, -0.09 (95% CI, -0.15 to -0.03) in ABCD, -0.16 (95% CI, -0.31 to -0.01) in Add Health, and -0.10 (95% CI, -0.13 to -0.06) in UK Biobank. Results were generally similar in the polygenic risk score analyses. In UK Biobank, several tasks showed statistically significant associations in the polygenic risk score analysis that were not evident in the family history models.

Conclusions and Relevance

In this study, whether assessed by family history or genetic data, depression in prior generations was associated with lower cognitive performance in offspring. There are opportunities to generate hypotheses about how this arises through genetic and environmental determinants, moderators of brain development and brain aging, and potentially modifiable social and lifestyle factors across the life span.

Age-dependent effects of schizophrenia genetic risk on cortical thickness and cortical surface area: Evaluating evidence for neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative models of schizophrenia

Risk for schizophrenia peaks during early adulthood, a critical period for brain development. Although several influential theoretical models have been proposed for the developmental relationship between brain pathology and clinical onset, to our knowledge, no study has directly evaluated the predictions of these models for schizophrenia developmental genetic effects on brain structure. To address this question, we introduce a framework to estimate the effects of schizophrenia genetic variation on brain structure phenotypes across the life span. Five-hundred and six participants, including 30 schizophrenia probands, 200 of their relatives (aged 12-85 years) from 32 families with at least two first-degree schizophrenia relatives, and 276 unrelated controls, underwent MRI to assess regional cortical thickness (CT) and cortical surface area (CSA). Genetic variance decomposition analyses were conducted to distinguish among schizophrenia neurogenetic effects that are most salient before schizophrenia peak age-of-risk (i.e., early neurodevelopmental effects), after peak age-of-risk (late neurodevelopmental effects), and during the later plateau of age-of-risk (neurodegenerative effects). Genetic correlations between schizophrenia and cortical traits suggested early neurodevelopmental effects for frontal and insula CSA, late neurodevelopmental effects for overall CSA and frontal, parietal, and occipital CSA, and possible neurodegenerative effects for temporal CT and parietal CSA. Importantly, these developmental neurogenetic effects were specific to schizophrenia and not found with nonpsychotic depression. Our findings highlight the potentially dynamic nature of schizophrenia genetic effects across the lifespan and emphasize the utility of integrating neuroimaging methods with developmental behavior genetic approaches to elucidate the nature and timing of risk-conferring processes in psychopathology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Associations Between Parental Mood and Anxiety Psychopathology and Offspring Brain Structure: A Scoping Review

A family history of mood and anxiety disorders is one of the most well-established risk factors for these disorders in offspring. A family history of these disorders has also been linked to alterations in brain regions involved in cognitive-affective processes broadly, and mood and anxiety disorders specifically. Results from studies of brain structure of children of parents with a history of mood or anxiety disorders (high-risk offspring) have been inconsistent. We followed the PRISMA protocol to conduct a scoping review of the literature linking parental mood and anxiety disorders to offspring brain structure to examine which structures in offspring brains are linked to parental major depressive disorder (MDD), anxiety, or bipolar disorder (BD). Studies included were published in peer-reviewed journals between January 2000 and July 2021. Thirty-nine studies were included. Significant associations between parental BD and offspring caudate volume, inferior frontal gyrus thickness, and anterior cingulate cortex thickness were found. Associations were also identified between parental MDD and offspring amygdala and hippocampal volumes, fusiform thickness, and thickness in temporoparietal regions. Few studies have examined associations between parental anxiety and high-risk offspring brain structure; however, one study found associations between parental anxiety symptoms and offspring amygdala structure, and another found similar associations with the hippocampus. The direction of grey matter change across studies was inconsistent, potentially due to the large age ranges for each study and the non-linear development of the brain. Children of parents with MDD and bipolar disorders, or elevated anxiety symptoms, show alterations in a range of brain regions. Results may further efforts to identify children at high risk for affective disorders and may elucidate whether alterations in specific brain regions represent premorbid markers of risk for mood and anxiety disorders.

Altruism and "love of neighbor" offer neuroanatomical protection against depression

We prospectively investigate protective benefits against depression of cortical thickness across nine regions of a Ventral Frontotemporal Network (VFTN), previously associated with spiritual experience. Seventy-two participants at high and low risk for depression (Mean age 41 years; 22-63 years; 40 high risk, 32 low risk) were drawn from a three-generation, thirty-eight year study. FreeSurfer estimated cortical thickness over anatomical MRIs of the brain (Year 30) for each of the nine ROIs. Depression (MDD with SAD-L; symptoms with PHQ; Years 30 and 38) and spirituality (self-report on five phenotypes; Year 35), respectively, were associated with the weighted average of nine regions of interest. VFTN thickness was: 1) positively associated (p<0.01) with two of five spiritual phenotypes, altruism and love of neighbor, interconnectedness at a trend level, but neither commitment nor practice, 2) inversely associated with a diagnosis of MDD (SADS-L Year 30, for any MDD in the past ten years), and 3) prospectively neuroanatomically protective against depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 Year 38) for those at high familial risk.

Dissociating default mode network resting state markers of suicide from familial risk factors for depression

Neural signatures of suicide risk likely reflect a combination of specific and non-specific factors, and clarifying specific factors may facilitate development of novel treatments. Previously, we demonstrated an altered pattern of resting state connectivity between the dorsal and ventral posterior cingulate cortex (d/vPCC) and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), as well as altered low frequency oscillations in these regions, in individuals with a history of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) compared to healthy controls. It remains uncertain, however, whether these markers were directly related to STBs or, more generally, reflect a trait-level risk factor for depression. Here, we examined data from a 3-generational longitudinal study of depression where resting state fMRI data were analyzed from 2nd and 3rd generation offspring of probands with (FH+ = 44: STB+ = 32, STB- = 12) and without (FH- = 25: STB+ = 15, STB- = 10) a family history of major depressive disorder (MDD). Standard seed-based methods and a frequency-based analysis of intrinsic neural activity (ALFF/fALFF) were employed. FH of MDD, but not a personal history of STBs or MDD, was associated with relatively reduced dPCC-dACC, and enhanced vPCC-dACC functional connectivity. FH of MDD showed a pattern of reduced ALFF in the dPCC whereas an STB history was associated with an increase. All findings were invariant to confounding by lifetime MDD and current depression severity. Overall, contrary to predictions, resting state functional connectivity within the default mode network (DMN) was associated with FH of depression rather than STBs. These findings confirm the relevance of DMN functional connectivity for mood disorders and underscore the importance of disambiguating biological factors that differentially relate to mental disorders versus STBs.

Neuroimaging markers of adolescent depression in the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) study

BACKGROUND

Adolescents are at increased risk of developing major depressive disorder (MDD) than many other age groups. Although the neural correlates of MDD in adults have been studied prospectively, such adolescent depression studies are mainly cross-sectional. We extracted data regarding the relationship between cortical thickness and later development of adolescent MDD from a national community study that uses an accelerated longitudinal design to examine the psychological, environmental, and neural differences related to drinking and brain development.

METHODS

692 subjects (age 12-21 years; 50% female) without a history of MDD were assessed with structural neuroimaging at baseline. We compared those 101 subjects who transitioned to MDD by 1-year follow-up to those who remained non-depressed over the same time period. FreeSurfer's autosegmentation process estimated vertex-wide cortical thicknesses and its Query, Design, Estimate, Contrast (Qdec) application investigated cortical thickness between those who later developed MDD and those who remained without MDD (Monte Carlo corrected for multiple comparisons, vertex-wise cluster threshold of 1.3, p < 0.01).

RESULTS

Those who transitioned in the next year to MDD had, at baseline, thinner cortices in the superior frontal cortex, precentral and postcentral regions, and superior temporal cortex, above and beyond effects attributable to age and sex. No cortical thickness sex differences or sex-by-depression interactions were observed.

LIMITATIONS

A larger sample size could improve statistical power and future investigations will be needed to confirm our results.

CONCLUSIONS

Thinner cortices over frontal and temporal regions may be linked to enhanced vulnerability for future depression during the adolescent-young adulthood transition.

Increased ASL-CBF in the right amygdala predicts the first onset of depression in healthy young first-degree relatives of patients with major depression

Healthy first-degree relatives of patients with major depression are at an elevated risk of developing depression, and regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) alterations are observed in patients with depression. Therefore, in a 33-month follow-up study, we used arterial spin labeling-magnetic resonance imaging (ASL-MRI) to investigate quantitative CBF before and after the diagnosis of depression in healthy young adults with and without first-degree relatives with major depression (FH + and FH-, respectively). In cross-sectional and longitudinal CBF comparisons, CBF in the right amygdala was increased or decreased. Additionally, a significant correlation was observed between the altered CBF in the right amygdala and the scores on the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) in the FH + group. Furthermore, logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses showed that increased CBF in the right amygdala at baseline predicted the subsequent onset of depression in the FH + group. Our results suggest that among healthy young adults with a familial risk of depression, those who exhibit increased CBF in the amygdala are susceptible to developing this disease.

Family Risk for Depression and Prioritization of Religion or Spirituality: Early Neurophysiological Modulations of Motivated Attention

The personal importance of religion or spirituality (R/S) has been associated with a lower risk for major depression (MDD), suicidal behavior, reduced cortical thinning and increased posterior EEG alpha, which has also been linked to antidepressant treatment response in MDD. Building on prior event-related potential (ERP) findings using an emotional hemifield paradigm, this study examined whether abnormal early (preconscious) responsivity to negative arousing stimuli, which is indicative of right parietotemporal dysfunction in both MDD patients and individuals at clinical high risk for MDD, is likewise moderated by R/S. We reanalyzed 72-channel ERP data from 127 individuals at high or low family risk for MDD (Kayser et al., 2017, NeuroImage Clin. 14, 692-707) after R/S stratification (low R/S importance, low/high risk, n = 38/61; high R/S importance, n = 15/13). ERPs were transformed to reference-free current source density (CSD) and quantified by temporal principal components analysis (tPCA). This report focused on N2 sink (peak latency 212 ms), the earliest prominent CSD-tPCA component previously found to be sensitive to emotional content. While overall N2 sink reflected activation of occipitotemporal cortex (prestriate/cuneus), as estimated via a distributed inverse solution, affective significance was marked by a relative (i.e., superimposed) positivity. Statistical analyses employed both non-parametric permutation tests and repeated measures ANOVA for mixed factorial designs with unstructured covariance matrix, including sex, age, and clinical covariates. Participants with low R/S importance, independent of risk status, showed greater ERP responsivity to negative than neutral stimuli, particularly over the right hemisphere. In contrast, early emotional ERP responsivity and asymmetry was substantially reduced for high risk individuals with high R/S importance, however, enhanced for low risk individuals with high R/S importance. Hemifield modulations of these effects (i.e., emotional ERP enhancements with left visual field/right hemisphere stimulus presentations) further corroborated these observations. Results suggest down-regulation of a right-lateralized network for salience detection at an early processing stage in high risk and high R/S importance individuals, presumably to prevent overactivation of ventral brain regions further downstream. These findings may point to a neurophysiological mechanism underlying resilience of families at risk for depression with high R/S prioritization.

Depression Severity Over 27 Months in Adolescent Girls Is Predicted by Stress-Linked Cortical Morphology

BACKGROUND

Evidence supports the notion that early-life stress and trauma impact cortical development and increase vulnerability to depression. However, it remains unclear whether common stressful life events in community-dwelling adolescents have similar consequences for cortical development.

METHODS

A total of 232 adolescent girls (mean age 15.29 ± 0.65 years) were assessed with the Stressful Life Events Schedule (a semistructured interview of stressors in the previous 9 months) and underwent a magnetic resonance imaging scan. FreeSurfer 5.3.0 was used to perform whole-brain surface-based morphometry. Dysphoria was assessed at the time of imaging and prospectively at three 9-month follow-up appointments using the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms II.

RESULTS

At least one stressful life event was reported in 90% of the adolescent participants during the 9 months preceding imaging. Greater burden of recent life stress was associated with less left precuneus and left postcentral cortical thickness and smaller left superior frontal and right inferior parietal volume (all p < .05 after multiple comparisons correction). Left precuneus thickness in the stress-associated cluster significantly predicted dysphoria for 27 months after imaging controlling for prior dysphoria (β = -.11, p = .004). Left precuneus cortical thickness accounted for 17.0% of the association between stress and dysphoric mood for 27 months after imaging (β = .04, p = .05).

CONCLUSIONS

Consistent with evidence from imaging studies of trauma-exposed youths and preclinical stress models, a heavy burden of recent common life stress in community-dwelling adolescent girls was associated with altered frontal/parietal cortical morphology. Stress-linked precuneus cortical thickness represents a candidate prospective biomarker of adolescent depression.

Neuroimaging predictors of onset and course of depression in childhood and adolescence: A systematic review of longitudinal studies

Major depressive disorder (MDD) often emerges during adolescence with detrimental effects on development as well as lifetime consequences. Identifying neurobiological markers that are associated with the onset or course of this disorder in childhood and adolescence is important for early recognition and intervention and, potentially, for the prevention of illness onset. In this systematic review, 68 longitudinal neuroimaging studies, from 34 unique samples, that examined the association of neuroimaging markers with onset or changes in paediatric depression published up to 1 February 2019 were examined. These studies employed different imaging modalities at baseline; structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), functional MRI (fMRI) or electroencephalography (EEG). Most consistent evidence across studies was found for blunted reward-related (striatal) activity (fMRI and EEG) as a potential biological marker for both MDD onset and course. With regard to structural brain measures, the results were highly inconsistent, likely caused by insufficient power to detect complex mediating effects of genetic and environmental factors in small sample sizes. Overall, there were a limited number of samples, and confounding factors such as sex and pubertal development were often not considered, whereas these factors are likely to be relevant especially in this age range.

A diffusion tensor imaging study of brain microstructural changes related to religion and spirituality in families at high risk for depression

INTRODUCTION

Previously in a three-generation study of families at high risk for depression, we found that belief in the importance of religion/spirituality (R/S) was associated with thicker cortex in bilateral parietal and occipital regions. In the same sample using functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalograph (EEG), we found that offspring at high familial risk had thinner cortices, increased default mode network connectivity, and reduced EEG power. These group differences were significantly diminished in offspring at high risk who reported high importance of R/S beliefs, suggesting a protective effect.

METHODS

This study extends previous work examining brain microstructural differences associated with risk for major depressive disorder (MDD) and tests whether these are normalized in at-risk offspring who report high importance of R/S beliefs. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data were selected from 99 2nd and 3rd generation offspring of 1st generation depressed (high-risk, HR) or nondepressed (low-risk, LR) parents. Whole-brain and region-of-interest analyses were performed, using ellipsoidal area ratio (EAR, an alternative diffusion anisotropy index comparable to fractional anisotropy). We examined microstructural differences associated with familial risk for depression within the groups of high and low importance of R/S beliefs (HI, LI).

RESULTS

In the LI group, HR individuals showed significantly decreased EAR in white matter regions neighboring the precuneus, superior parietal lobe, superior and middle frontal gyrus, and bilateral insula, supplementary motor area, and postcentral gyrus. In the HI group, HR individuals showed reduced EAR in white matter surrounding the left superior, and middle frontal gyrus, left superior parietal lobule, and right supplementary motor area. Microstructural differences associated with familial risk for depression in precuneus, frontal lobe, and temporal lobe were nonsignificant or less significant in the HI group.

CONCLUSION

R/S beliefs may affect microstructure in brain regions associated with R/S, potentially conferring resilience to depression among HR individuals.

Temporal stability of posterior EEG alpha over twelve years

OBJECTIVE

We previously identified posterior EEG alpha as a potential biomarker for antidepressant treatment response. To meet the definition of a trait biomarker or endophenotype, it should be independent of the course of depression. Accordingly, this report evaluated the temporal stability of posterior EEG alpha at rest.

METHODS

Resting EEG was recorded from 70 participants (29 male; 46 adults), during testing sessions separated by 12 ± 1.1 years. EEG alpha was identified, separated and quantified using reference-free methods that combine current source density (CSD) with principal components analysis (PCA). Measures of overall (eyes closed-plus-open) and net (eyes closed-minus-open) posterior alpha amplitude and asymmetry were compared across testing sessions.

RESULTS

Overall alpha was stable for the full sample (Spearman-Brown [r_SB] = .834, Pearson's r = .718), and showed excellent reliability for adults (r_SB = .918; r = 0.848). Net alpha showed acceptable reliability for adults (r_SB = .750; r = .600). Hemispheric asymmetries (right-minus-left hemisphere) of posterior overall alpha showed significant correlations, but revealed acceptable reliability only for adults (r_SB = .728; r = .573). Findings were highly comparable between 29 male and 41 female participants.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall posterior EEG alpha amplitude is reliable over long time intervals in adults.

SIGNIFICANCE

The temporal stability of posterior EEG alpha oscillations at rest over long time intervals is indicative of an individual trait.