Adolescence is associated with genomically patterned consolidation of the hubs of the human brain connectome.

ABSTRACT: How does human brain structure mature during adolescence? We used MRI to measure cortical thickness and intracortical myelination in 297 population volunteers aged 14-24 y old. We found and replicated that association cortical areas were thicker and less myelinated than primary cortical areas at 14 y. However, association cortex had faster rates of shrinkage and myelination over the course of adolescence. Age-related increases in cortical myelination were maximized approximately at the internal layer of projection neurons. Adolescent cortical myelination and shrinkage were coupled and specifically associated with a dorsoventrally patterned gene expression profile enriched for synaptic, oligodendroglial- and schizophrenia-related genes. Topologically efficient and biologically expensive hub

SUBMITTER: Whitaker KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4987797 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature