title: Development and aging of cortical thickness correspond to genetic organization patterns.
abstract: There is a growing realization that early life influences have lasting impact on brain function and structure. Recent research has demonstrated that genetic relationships in adults can be used to parcellate the cortex into regions of maximal shared genetic influence, and a major hypothesis is that genetically programmed neurodevelopmental events cause a lasting impact on the organization of the cerebral cortex observable decades later. Here we tested how developmental and lifespan changes in cortical thickness fit the underlying genetic organizational principles of cortical thickness in a longitudinal sample of 974 participants between 4.1 and 88.5 y of age with a total of 1,633 scans, including 773 scans from children below 12 y. Genetic clustering of cortical thickness was based on an independent dataset of 406 adult twins. Developmental and adult age-related changes in cortical thickness followed closely the genetic organization of the cerebral cortex, with change rates varying as a function of genetic similarity between regions. Cortical regions with overlapping genetic architecture showed correlated developmental and adult age change trajectories and vice versa for regions with low genetic overlap. Thus, effects of genes on regional variations in cortical thickness in middle age can be traced to regional differences in neurodevelopmental change rates and extrapolated to further adult aging-related cortical thinning. This finding suggests that genetic factors contribute to cortical changes through life and calls for a lifespan perspective in research aimed at identifying the genetic and environmental determinants of cortical development and aging.
authors.affiliation: Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0373 Oslo, Norway; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Unit of Neuropsychology, Oslo University Hospital, 0424 Oslo, Norway; andersmf@psykologi.uio.no.
authors.forename: Anders M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Fjell
authors.affiliation: Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0373 Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Håkon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Grydeland
authors.affiliation: Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0373 Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Stine K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Krogsrud
authors.affiliation: Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0373 Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Inge
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8508-9088
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Amlien
authors.affiliation: Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0373 Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Darius A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Rohani
authors.affiliation: Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0373 Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Lia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferschmann
authors.affiliation: Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0373 Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Andreas B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Storsve
authors.affiliation: Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0373 Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Christian K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Tamnes
authors.affiliation: Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0373 Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Roser
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sala-Llonch
authors.affiliation: Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0373 Oslo, Norway; Department of Radiology, Rikshospitalet, Oslo University Hospital, 0424 Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Paulina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Due-Tønnessen
authors.affiliation: Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0373 Oslo, Norway; The Interventional Centre, Rikshospitalet, Oslo University Hospital, 0424 Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Atle
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bjørnerud
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway;
authors.forename: Anne Elisabeth
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Sølsnes
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, St. Olav's Hospital, N-7006 Trondheim, Norway; Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway;
authors.forename: Asta K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Håberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway;
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Skranes
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093;
authors.forename: Hauke
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bartsch
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093;
authors.forename: Chi-Hua
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093;
authors.forename: Wesley K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health, VA San Diego Healthcare System, La Jolla, CA 92093;
authors.forename: Matthew S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Panizzon
authors.affiliation: Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health, VA San Diego Healthcare System, La Jolla, CA 92093; Center for Behavioral Genomics Twin Research Laboratory, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093;
authors.forename: William S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Kremen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093; Department of Neurosciences, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093.
authors.forename: Anders M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Dale
authors.affiliation: Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0373 Oslo, Norway; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Unit of Neuropsychology, Oslo University Hospital, 0424 Oslo, Norway;
authors.forename: Kristine B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Walhovd
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000465:Algorithms; D001724:Birth Weight; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005796:Genes; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: aging; cerebral cortex; development; genetic; magnetic resonance imaging