The influence of puberty on subcortical brain development

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Abstract

Puberty is characterized by hormonal, physical and psychological transformation. The human brain undergoes significant changes between childhood and adulthood, but little is known about how puberty influences its structural development. Using a longitudinal sample of 711 magnetic resonance imaging scans from 275 individuals aged 7–20 years, we examined how subcortical brain regions change in relation to puberty. Our regions of interest included the amygdala, hippocampus and corpus striatum including the nucleus accumbens (NA), caudate, putamen and globus pallidus (GP). Pubertal development was significantly related to structural volume in all six regions in both sexes. Pubertal development and age had both independent and interactive influences on volume for the amygdala, hippocampus and putamen in both sexes, and the caudate in females. There was an interactive puberty-by-age effect on volume for the NA and GP in both sexes, and the caudate in males. These findings suggest a significant role for puberty in structural brain development.

Highlights

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Subcortical regions continue to develop through puberty in females and males.
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The developmental trajectories vary between subcortical regions.
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Puberty and age have independent and interactive influences on this development.

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Most cited references 35

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Sexual dimorphism of brain developmental trajectories during childhood and adolescence.

Rhoshel K. Lenroot, Nitin Gogtay, Deanna Greenstein … (2007)

Human total brain size is consistently reported to be approximately 8-10% larger in males, although consensus on regionally specific differences is weak. Here, in the largest longitudinal pediatric neuroimaging study reported to date (829 scans from 387 subjects, ages 3 to 27 years), we demonstrate the importance of examining size-by-age trajectories of brain development rather than group averages across broad age ranges when assessing sexual dimorphism. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) we found robust male/female differences in the shapes of trajectories with total cerebral volume peaking at age 10.5 in females and 14.5 in males. White matter increases throughout this 24-year period with males having a steeper rate of increase during adolescence. Both cortical and subcortical gray matter trajectories follow an inverted U shaped path with peak sizes 1 to 2 years earlier in females. These sexually dimorphic trajectories confirm the importance of longitudinal data in studies of brain development and underline the need to consider sex matching in studies of brain development.

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The Role of Puberty in the Developing Adolescent Brain

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Stephanie Burnett Heyes, Ronald E. Dahl (2010)

Adolescence refers to the period of physical and psychological development between childhood and adulthood. The beginning of adolescence is loosely anchored to the onset of puberty, which brings dramatic alterations in hormone levels and a number of consequent physical changes. Puberty onset is also associated with profound changes in drives, motivations, psychology, and social life; these changes continue throughout adolescence. There is an increasing number of neuroimaging studies looking at the development of the brain, both structurally and functionally, during adolescence. Almost all of these studies have defined development by chronological age, which shows a strong—but not unitary—correlation with pubertal stage. Very few neuroimaging studies have associated brain development with pubertal stage, and yet there is tentative evidence to suggest that puberty might play an important role in some aspects of brain and cognitive development. In this paper we describe this research, and we suggest that, in the future, developmental neuroimaging studies of adolescence should consider the role of puberty. Hum Brain Mapp, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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Disorders of childhood and adolescence: gender and psychopathology.

Carolyn Zahn-Waxler, Elizabeth Shirtcliff, Kristine Marceau (2008)

Early-onset disorders (e.g., conduct problems, autism) show a marked male preponderance, whereas adolescent-onset disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety) show a marked female preponderance. A developmental psychopathology framework provides a means to investigate complex gender-related etiologies of these different disorders. This review focuses on biological and environmental factors implicated in the development of conduct problems and depression in boys and girls. Boys and girls showed certain differences in types, rates, comorbidities, antecedents, correlates, and trajectories of these problems. Origins of male and female preponderant problems are likely to be rooted, in part, in biological, physical, cognitive, and social-emotional differences in boys and girls that can precede the expression of clinical problems. These male-like and female-like characteristics are considered regarding conduct problems and depression to explore how they inform biological and environmental theories about gender and psychopathology. At the same time, because boys and girls also show many similarities, it is important to avoid sex-stereotyping mental health problems.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Anne-Lise Goddings

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Neuroimage

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Neuroimage

Title: Neuroimage

Publisher: Academic Press

ISSN (Print): 1053-8119

ISSN (Electronic): 1095-9572

Publication date PMC-release: 1 March 2014

Publication date (Print): March 2014

Volume: 88

Issue: 100

Pages: 242-251

Affiliations

[a ]UCL Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, WC1N 1EH, UK

[b ]UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK

[c ]Child Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA

Author notes

[* ]Corresponding author at: General and Adolescent Paediatric Unit, UCL Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK. anne-lise.goddings@ 123456ucl.ac.uk

Article

Publisher ID: S1053-8119(13)01009-4

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.09.073

PMC ID: 3991320

PubMed ID: 24121203

SO-VID: 53d152f9-2de7-496c-8a02-a812b661e948

License:

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

The influence of puberty on subcortical brain development

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Neuronal Signaling

Most cited references 35

Sexual dimorphism of brain developmental trajectories during childhood and adolescence.

The Role of Puberty in the Developing Adolescent Brain

Disorders of childhood and adolescence: gender and psychopathology.

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