Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, USA.
School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas, Dallas, USA.
Neuroimage. 2020 Nov 1;221:117169. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117169. Epub 2020 Jul 18.
Genetic influences that govern the spatial patterning of the human cortex and its structural variability are still incompletely known. We analyzed structural MR images in twins, siblings, and pairs of unrelated subjects. A comprehensive set of methods was employed to quantify properties of cortical features at different spatial scales. Measures were used to assess the influence of genetic similarity on structural patterning. Results indicated that: (1) Genetic effects significantly influence all structural features assessed here at all spatial resolutions, albeit at different strengths. (2) While strong genetic effects were found at the whole-brain and hemisphere level, effects were weaker at the regional and vertex level, depending on the measure under study. (3) Besides cortical thickness, sulcal (geodesic) depth was found to be under strong genetic control. The local pattern indicated that two axes along (a) the anterior-posterior direction (insula to parieto-occipital sulcus), and (b) superior-inferior direction (central sulcus to callosal sulcus) presumably determine the segregation of four quadrants in each hemisphere early in development. (4) While strong structural asymmetries were found at the regional level, genetic influences on laterality were relatively minor.
遗传因素控制着人类大脑皮层的空间模式及其结构变异性，但目前仍不完全清楚。我们对双胞胎、兄弟姐妹和非相关个体对进行了结构磁共振成像分析。采用了一整套方法来量化不同空间尺度下皮质特征的属性。采用这些指标来评估遗传相似性对结构模式的影响。结果表明：（1）遗传效应显著影响所有结构特征，尽管在不同的空间分辨率上，遗传效应的强度不同。（2）虽然在全脑和大脑半球水平上发现了很强的遗传效应，但在区域和顶点水平上，遗传效应较弱，这取决于所研究的指标。（3）除了皮质厚度外，脑沟（测地线）深度也受到强烈的遗传控制。局部模式表明，两个轴沿（a）前后方向（从岛叶到顶枕沟）和（b）上下方向（中央沟到胼胝体沟）可能在发育早期决定了每个半球的四个象限的分离。（4）虽然在区域水平上发现了很强的结构不对称性，但遗传对侧化的影响相对较小。
