Casey Kevin F, Levesque Melissa L, Szyf Moshe, Ismaylova Elmira, Verner Marie-Pier, Suderman Matthew, Vitaro Frank, Brendgen Mara, Dionne Ginette, Boivin Michel, Tremblay Richard E, Booij Linda
CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montreal, Québec, Canada.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2017 Apr;38(4):2037-2050. doi: 10.1002/hbm.23503. Epub 2016 Dec 29.
Several studies have shown that the in utero environment, which can be indexed by birth weight (BW), is associated with cortical morphology in adolescence and adulthood. Work in monozygotic (MZ) twins suggests that this association is driven by non-shared environmental factors. This correlation could be the result of in utero impacts on DNA methylation. The aim of the present study with MZ twins is to replicate the association between discordance in BW and brain morphology and test whether discordance in DNA methylation mediates this relationship.
One hundred and four adolescent MZ twins (52 pairs, of which 42% were male pairs) who have been followed regularly since birth underwent T1 weighted structural MRI, and epigenome-wide assessment of DNA methylation from saliva at age 15.
Co-twins had very similar measures of DNA methylation and cortical morphology. Higher BW members of a twin pair had increased total cortical surface area, and decreased cortical thickness compared to their lower BW sibling. BW Discordance was positively associated with both cortical surface area and cortical volume discordance. Genes involved in neurodevelopment were tentatively identified as mediators of both the BW - cortical volume, and BW- cortical surface area relationships.
The association between BW and cortical morphology in adolescence appears to be attributable to in utero environmental effects, and DNA methylation may play a role in mediating this relationship. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2037-2050, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
多项研究表明，可通过出生体重（BW）来衡量的子宫内环境与青少年期及成年期的皮质形态有关。对同卵双胞胎（MZ）的研究表明，这种关联是由非共享环境因素驱动的。这种相关性可能是子宫内对DNA甲基化产生影响的结果。本研究以同卵双胞胎为对象，旨在重复出生体重差异与脑形态之间的关联，并测试DNA甲基化差异是否介导了这种关系。
104名自出生后就接受定期随访的青少年同卵双胞胎（52对，其中42%为男性双胞胎对）接受了T1加权结构磁共振成像（MRI）检查，并在15岁时对唾液进行了全基因组DNA甲基化评估。
双胞胎的DNA甲基化和皮质形态测量结果非常相似。与出生体重较低的同胞相比，双胞胎中出生体重较高的成员总皮质表面积增加，皮质厚度减小。出生体重差异与皮质表面积差异和皮质体积差异均呈正相关。初步确定参与神经发育的基因是出生体重与皮质体积、出生体重与皮质表面积关系的介导因素。
青少年期出生体重与皮质形态之间的关联似乎归因于子宫内环境效应，DNA甲基化可能在介导这种关系中发挥作用。《人类大脑图谱》38:2037 - 2050，2017年。© 2017威利期刊公司。
