Thomason Moriah E, Yoo Daniel J, Glover Gary H, Gotlib Ian H
Department of Psychology, Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-2130, USA.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2009 Nov 24;3:55. doi: 10.3389/neuro.09.055.2009. eCollection 2009.
A specific polymorphism of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene is associated with alterations in brain anatomy and memory; its relevance to the functional connectivity of brain networks, however, is unclear. Given that altered hippocampal function and structure has been found in adults who carry the methionine (met) allele of the BDNF gene and the molecular studies elucidating the role of BDNF in neurogenesis and synapse formation, we examined the association between BDNF gene variants and neural resting connectivity in children and adolescents. We observed a reduction in hippocampal and parahippocampal to cortical connectivity in met-allele carriers within both default-mode and executive networks. In contrast, we observed increased connectivity to amygdala, insula and striatal regions in met-carriers, within the paralimbic network. Because of the known association between the BDNF gene and neuropsychiatric disorder, this latter finding of greater connectivity in circuits important for emotion processing may indicate a new neural mechanism through which these gene-related psychiatric differences are manifest. Here we show that the BDNF gene, known to regulate synaptic plasticity and connectivity in the brain, affects functional connectivity at the neural systems level. In addition, we demonstrate that the spatial topography of multiple high-level resting state networks in healthy children and adolescents is similar to that observed in adults.
脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）基因的一种特定多态性与脑解剖结构和记忆的改变有关；然而，其与脑网络功能连接的相关性尚不清楚。鉴于在携带BDNF基因甲硫氨酸（met）等位基因的成年人中发现海马功能和结构发生改变，且分子研究阐明了BDNF在神经发生和突触形成中的作用，我们研究了BDNF基因变异与儿童和青少年神经静息连接之间的关联。我们观察到，在默认模式网络和执行网络中，met等位基因携带者的海马和海马旁回与皮质之间的连接减少。相比之下，我们观察到，在边缘旁网络中，met携带者与杏仁核、岛叶和纹状体区域的连接增加。由于BDNF基因与神经精神疾病之间存在已知关联，后一项在对情绪处理至关重要的回路中连接性更强的发现，可能表明了一种新的神经机制，通过这种机制，这些与基因相关的精神差异得以显现。我们在此表明，已知在大脑中调节突触可塑性和连接性的BDNF基因，会影响神经系统水平的功能连接。此外，我们证明，健康儿童和青少年中多个高级静息状态网络的空间拓扑结构与在成年人中观察到的相似。
