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Mapping the structural organization of the brain in conduct disorder: replication of findings in two independent samples

Mapping the structural organization of the brain in conduct disorder: replication of findings in two independent samples
Mapping the structural organization of the brain in conduct disorder: replication of findings in two independent samples
Background
Neuroimaging methods that allow researchers to investigate structural covariance between brain regions are increasingly being used to study psychiatric disorders. Structural covariance analyses are particularly well suited for studying disorders with putative neurodevelopmental origins as they appear sensitive to changes in the synchronized maturation of different brain regions. We assessed interregional correlations in cortical thickness as a measure of structural covariance, and applied this method to investigate the coordinated development of different brain regions in conduct disorder (CD). We also assessed whether structural covariance measures could differentiate between the childhood‐onset (CO‐CD) and adolescence‐onset (AO‐CD) subtypes of CD, which may differ in terms of etiology and adult outcomes.

Methods
We examined interregional correlations in cortical thickness in male youths with CO‐CD or AO‐CD relative to healthy controls (HCs) in two independent datasets. The age range in the Cambridge sample was 16–21 years (mean: 18.0), whereas the age range of the Southampton sample was 13–18 years (mean: 16.7). We used FreeSurfer to perform segmentations and applied structural covariance methods to the resulting parcellations.

Results
In both samples, CO‐CD participants displayed a strikingly higher number of significant cross‐cortical correlations compared to HC or AO‐CD participants, whereas AO‐CD participants presented fewer significant correlations than HCs. Group differences in the strength of the interregional correlations were observed in both samples, and each set of results remained significant when controlling for IQ and comorbid attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms.

Conclusions
This study provides new evidence for quantitative differences in structural brain organization between the CO‐CD and AO‐CD subtypes, and supports the hypothesis that both subtypes of CD have neurodevelopmental origins.
0021-9630
1018-1026
Fairchild, Graeme
f99bc911-978e-48c2-9754-c6460666a95f
Toschi, Nicola
6d782adc-5749-422b-a98e-4f5fd9121152
Sully, Kate
3fa3e554-2598-4ccc-8da2-e580759f6fd6
Sonuga-Barke, Edmund
bc80bf95-6cf9-4c76-a09d-eaaf0b717635
Hagan, Cindy C.
b4ec5466-b17c-465f-b88d-a671ffcb97e4
Diciotti, Stefano
8d413ded-2965-4e04-a89e-0f5c8d01eda2
Goodyer, Ian M.
b61b8ae9-a305-462b-9fe5-66f8d3fb6312
Calder, Andrew J.
beeeb847-bbea-4e3a-8f06-799271943542
Passamonti, Luca
71e1cf10-463b-45f0-acc2-0d74459d9f20
Fairchild, Graeme
f99bc911-978e-48c2-9754-c6460666a95f
Toschi, Nicola
6d782adc-5749-422b-a98e-4f5fd9121152
Sully, Kate
3fa3e554-2598-4ccc-8da2-e580759f6fd6
Sonuga-Barke, Edmund
bc80bf95-6cf9-4c76-a09d-eaaf0b717635
Hagan, Cindy C.
b4ec5466-b17c-465f-b88d-a671ffcb97e4
Diciotti, Stefano
8d413ded-2965-4e04-a89e-0f5c8d01eda2
Goodyer, Ian M.
b61b8ae9-a305-462b-9fe5-66f8d3fb6312
Calder, Andrew J.
beeeb847-bbea-4e3a-8f06-799271943542
Passamonti, Luca
71e1cf10-463b-45f0-acc2-0d74459d9f20

Fairchild, Graeme, Toschi, Nicola, Sully, Kate, Sonuga-Barke, Edmund, Hagan, Cindy C., Diciotti, Stefano, Goodyer, Ian M., Calder, Andrew J. and Passamonti, Luca (2016) Mapping the structural organization of the brain in conduct disorder: replication of findings in two independent samples. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57 (9), 1018-1026. (doi:10.1111/jcpp.12581).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background
Neuroimaging methods that allow researchers to investigate structural covariance between brain regions are increasingly being used to study psychiatric disorders. Structural covariance analyses are particularly well suited for studying disorders with putative neurodevelopmental origins as they appear sensitive to changes in the synchronized maturation of different brain regions. We assessed interregional correlations in cortical thickness as a measure of structural covariance, and applied this method to investigate the coordinated development of different brain regions in conduct disorder (CD). We also assessed whether structural covariance measures could differentiate between the childhood‐onset (CO‐CD) and adolescence‐onset (AO‐CD) subtypes of CD, which may differ in terms of etiology and adult outcomes.

Methods
We examined interregional correlations in cortical thickness in male youths with CO‐CD or AO‐CD relative to healthy controls (HCs) in two independent datasets. The age range in the Cambridge sample was 16–21 years (mean: 18.0), whereas the age range of the Southampton sample was 13–18 years (mean: 16.7). We used FreeSurfer to perform segmentations and applied structural covariance methods to the resulting parcellations.

Results
In both samples, CO‐CD participants displayed a strikingly higher number of significant cross‐cortical correlations compared to HC or AO‐CD participants, whereas AO‐CD participants presented fewer significant correlations than HCs. Group differences in the strength of the interregional correlations were observed in both samples, and each set of results remained significant when controlling for IQ and comorbid attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms.

Conclusions
This study provides new evidence for quantitative differences in structural brain organization between the CO‐CD and AO‐CD subtypes, and supports the hypothesis that both subtypes of CD have neurodevelopmental origins.

Text
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 20 April 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 15 June 2016
Published date: September 2016
Organisations: Clinical Neuroscience

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 393168
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/393168
ISSN: 0021-9630
PURE UUID: 3e9ddbc4-3f18-46b6-b408-9367742763d2
ORCID for Graeme Fairchild: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7814-9938

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Date deposited: 22 Apr 2016 09:04
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 05:31

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Contributors

Author: Graeme Fairchild ORCID iD
Author: Nicola Toschi
Author: Kate Sully
Author: Edmund Sonuga-Barke
Author: Cindy C. Hagan
Author: Stefano Diciotti
Author: Ian M. Goodyer
Author: Andrew J. Calder
Author: Luca Passamonti

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