Lifespan Gyrification Trajectories of Human Brain in Healthy Individuals and Patients with Major Psychiatric Disorders

Abstract

Cortical gyrification of the brain represents the folding characteristic of the cerebral cortex. How the brain cortical gyrification changes from childhood to old age in healthy human subjects is still unclear. Additionally, studies have shown regional gyrification alterations in patients with major psychiatric disorders, such as major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder (BD), and schizophrenia (SCZ). However, whether the lifespan trajectory of gyrification over the brain is altered in patients diagnosed with major psychiatric disorders is still unknown. In this study, we investigated the trajectories of gyrification in three independent cohorts based on structural brain images of 881 subjects from age 4 to 83. We discovered that the trajectory of gyrification during normal development and aging was not linear and could be modeled with a logarithmic function. We also found that the gyrification trajectories of patients with MDD, BD and SCZ were deviated from the healthy one during adulthood, indicating altered aging in the brain of these patients.

Age‐related changes in cortical and subcortical structures of healthy adult brains: A surface‐based morphometry study

“…Regarding the changes of LGI, we found it correlated with age in negative effect in multiple brain regions, which were also observed in previous studies . Hogstrom et al found that LGI significantly decreased in the postcentral, supramarginal, and inferior parietal lobes, the same as our results; while they did not find an obvious decline in rostral anterior cingulate which was observed in our study.…”

“…In another report, the average local gyrification trajectory followed a logarithmic function with age from 4 to 83 years. 28 Due to lack of the subjects aged 4-20, we did not find a logarithmic relationship and studies are required in the future for the development.…”

Altered cortical gyrification in adults who were born very preterm and its associations with cognition and mental health

“…Using a whole brain approach, we found the strongest gyrification reduction in the very preterm sample bilaterally in the insula, a deeply buried region characterized by elevated convolution complexity across lifespan (12,64). The insula, the first lobe to differentiate in fetal life, starts sulcation/gyrification at 16 weeks of gestation (4,65) and undergoes critical development between 21 and 32 weeks (66), making it particularly vulnerable to alterations following very preterm birth.…”

Neuroimaging Studies Illustrate the Commonalities Between Ageing and Brain Diseases

“…Already, signs of this paradigm shift are appearing. There is a small, but important, body of research that is developing sophisticated models of the trajectories of different facets of brain ageing, using a range of neuroimaging modalities . These models, often using longitudinal data, have the potential to map out an individual's future brain health.…”