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Global topology of human connectome is insensitive to early life environments - A prospective longitudinal study of the general population.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Change log

Authors

Holmes, Joni 
Astle, Duncan E 

Abstract

The widely acknowledged detrimental impact of early adversity on child development has driven efforts to understand the underlying mechanisms that may mediate these effects within the developing brain. Recent efforts have begun to move beyond associating adversity with the morphology of individual brain regions towards determining if and how adversity might shape their interconnectivity. However, whether adversity effects a global shift in the organisation of whole-brain networks remains unclear. In this study, we assessed this possibility using parental questionnaire and diffusion imaging data from The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC, N = 913), a prospective longitudinal study spanning more than 20 years. We tested whether a wide range of adversities-including experiences of abuse, domestic violence, physical and emotional cruelty, poverty, neglect, and parental separation-measured by questionnaire within the first seven years of life were significantly associated with the tractography-derived connectome in young adulthood. We tested this across multiple measures of organisation and using a computational model that simulated the wiring economy of the brain. We found no significant relationships between early exposure to any form of adversity and the global organisation of the structural connectome in young adulthood. We did detect local differences in the medial prefrontal cortex, as well as an association between weaker brain wiring constraints and greater externalising behaviour in adolescence. Our results indicate that further efforts are necessary to delimit the magnitude and functional implications of adversity-related differences in connectomic organization. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Diverse prospective measures of the early-life environment do not predict the organisation of the DTI tractography-derived connectome in young adulthood Wiring economy of the connectome is weakly associated with externalising in adolescence, but not internalising or cognitive ability Further work is needed to establish the scope and significance of global adversity-related differences in the structural connectome.

Description

Publication status: Published


Funder: MRC programme grant MC‐A060‐5PQ40


Funder: TWCF Grant 0159

Keywords

ALSPAC, connectome, early adversity, generative network modelling, graph theory, structural connectivity, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Connectome, Prospective Studies, Brain, Female, Male, Young Adult, Adolescent, Child, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Adult, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Child, Preschool, Surveys and Questionnaires, Infant, Child Development

Journal Title

Dev Sci

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1363-755X
1467-7687

Volume Title

Publisher

Wiley
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (217065/Z/19/Z)
MRC and Wellcome grant to George Davey Smith (076467/Z/05/Z)
Wellcome grant to Glyn Lewis (08426812/Z/07/Z)