Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
Cereb Cortex. 2011 Oct;21(10):2313-21. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhr013. Epub 2011 Mar 4.
Cortical surface area measures appear to be functionally relevant and distinct in etiology, development, and behavioral correlates compared with other size characteristics, such as cortical thickness. Little is known about genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in regional surface area in humans. Using a large sample of adult twins, we determined relative contributions of genes and environment on variations in regional cortical surface area as measured by magnetic resonance imaging before and after adjustment for genetic and environmental influences shared with total cortical surface area. We found high heritability for total surface area and, before adjustment, moderate heritability for regional surface areas. Compared with other lobes, heritability was higher for frontal lobe and lower for medial temporal lobe. After adjustment for total surface area, regionally specific genetic influences were substantially reduced, although still significant in most regions. Unlike other lobes, left frontal heritability remained high after adjustment. Thus, global and regionally specific genetic factors both influence cortical surface areas. These findings are broadly consistent with results from animal studies regarding the evolution and development of cortical patterning and may guide future research into specific environmental and genetic determinants of variation among humans in the surface area of particular regions.
皮质表面积的测量在病因、发展和行为相关性方面似乎比其他大小特征（如皮质厚度）更具有功能相关性和独特性。关于遗传和环境对人类区域表面面积个体差异的影响，人们知之甚少。本研究使用大量成人双胞胎样本，在调整了与总皮质表面积相关的遗传和环境影响后，确定了基因和环境对磁共振成像测量的区域皮质表面积变化的相对贡献。我们发现，总表面积具有较高的遗传度，在调整前，区域表面积具有中等的遗传度。与其他脑叶相比，额叶的遗传度较高，而内侧颞叶的遗传度较低。在调整了总表面积后，区域特异性遗传影响虽然在大多数区域仍然显著，但大大降低。与其他脑叶不同，左额叶的遗传度在调整后仍然很高。因此，全局和区域特异性遗传因素都影响皮质表面积。这些发现与动物研究中关于皮质模式的进化和发育的结果基本一致，可能为未来研究人类特定区域表面积的特定环境和遗传决定因素提供指导。
