Parental age effects on cortical morphology in offspring

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Genetics

Background:

• Parental age is linked to offspring neurodevelopmental outcomes and mental health risks.
• The underlying neural mechanisms connecting parental age to offspring brain development are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between parental age and offspring's cerebral morphology.
• To explore potential neural mechanisms linking parental age extremes to neurocognitive outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Utilized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from 171 youth to extract lobar volumes, surface areas, and cortical thickness.
• Employed linear mixed model regression to analyze the relationship between parental age and offspring neuroanatomy.
• Adjusted for offspring's age, sex, intelligence, and parental socioeconomic status.

Main Results:

• A significant inverted "U" relationship was observed between parental age and offspring gray matter volume.
• Cortical volume increased with parental age until the early 30s, then decreased.
• Paternal age primarily affected cortical surface area, while maternal age influenced cortical thickness; no effects on white matter volume were found.

Conclusions:

• Parental age significantly influences offspring's cerebral morphology, particularly gray matter volume and cortical characteristics.
• These observed effects on brain structure may mediate the link between parental age extremes and suboptimal neurocognitive development.
• The findings highlight the complex interplay between parental age and offspring neurodevelopmental trajectories.