Ducharme Simon, Albaugh Matthew D, Hudziak James J, Botteron Kelly N, Nguyen Tuong-Vi, Truong Catherine, Evans Alan C, Karama Sherif
McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 2B4, Canada.
Vermont Center for Children, Youth, and Families, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401, USA.
Cereb Cortex. 2014 Nov;24(11):2941-50. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bht151. Epub 2013 Jun 7.
The relationship between anxious/depressed traits and neuromaturation remains largely unstudied. Characterizing this relationship during healthy neurodevelopment is critical to understanding processes associated with the emergence of child/adolescent onset mood/anxiety disorders. In this study, mixed-effects models were used to determine longitudinal cortical thickness correlates of Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Young Adult Self Report Anxious/Depressed scores in healthy children. Analyses included 341 subjects from 4.9 to 22.3 year-old with repeated MRI at up to 3 time points, at 2-year intervals (586 MRI scans). There was a significant "CBCL Anxious/Depressed by Age" interaction on cortical thickness in the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), including the medial orbito-frontal, gyrus rectus, and subgenual anterior cingulate areas. Anxious/Depressed scores were negatively associated with thickness at younger ages (<9 years), but positively associated with thickness at older ages (15-22 years), with the shift in polarity occurring around age 12. This was secondary to a slower rate of vmPFC cortical thinning in subjects with higher scores. In young adults (18-22 years), Anxious/Depressed scores were also positively associated with precuneus/posterior cingulate cortical thickness. Potential neurobiological mechanisms underlying this maturation pattern are proposed. These results demonstrate the dynamic impact of age on relations between vmPFC and negative affect in the developing brain.
焦虑/抑郁特质与神经成熟之间的关系在很大程度上仍未得到研究。在健康的神经发育过程中表征这种关系对于理解与儿童/青少年期情绪/焦虑障碍出现相关的过程至关重要。在本研究中，使用混合效应模型来确定健康儿童中儿童行为量表（CBCL）和青年成人自评焦虑/抑郁得分的纵向皮质厚度相关性。分析纳入了341名年龄在4.9至22.3岁之间的受试者，他们在长达3个时间点（间隔2年）进行了重复MRI扫描（共586次MRI扫描）。右侧腹内侧前额叶皮质（vmPFC），包括内侧眶额、直回和膝下前扣带区域的皮质厚度存在显著的“年龄×CBCL焦虑/抑郁”交互作用。焦虑/抑郁得分在较年轻年龄段（<9岁）与厚度呈负相关，但在较年长年龄段（15 - 22岁）与厚度呈正相关，极性转变发生在12岁左右。这是由于得分较高的受试者中vmPFC皮质变薄速度较慢所致。在青年成人（18 - 22岁）中，焦虑/抑郁得分也与楔前叶/后扣带皮质厚度呈正相关。本文提出了这种成熟模式潜在的神经生物学机制。这些结果证明了年龄对发育中大脑vmPFC与负面影响之间关系的动态影响。
