A longitudinal analysis of puberty-related cortical development

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Biology
• Human Brain Development

Background:

• Adolescence involves significant brain structural changes alongside puberty.
• Human brain development research often focuses on age, with limited understanding of puberty's specific role.
• Animal studies suggest a link between puberty and brain changes, but human data is scarce.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize puberty-related structural brain changes in humans.
• To investigate if individual pubertal tempo influences cortical development trajectories.
• To differentiate puberty-driven brain changes from age-related development.

Main Methods:

• Combined data from two longitudinal neuroimaging cohorts (N=192, 366 scans).
• Utilized MRI assessments between 8.5 and 14.5 years.
• Employed generalized additive mixture models and pubertal stage questionnaires.

Main Results:

• Identified widespread linear, puberty-related cortical changes across the brain.
• Observed puberty-driven cortical changes, especially in frontal and parietal regions, independent of age.
• Found that faster pubertal tempo in males was associated with greater precuneus and frontal cortical thinning.

Conclusions:

• Puberty exerts a more extensive influence on cortical development than previously recognized.
• Individual differences in pubertal tempo are linked to variations in brain structure development.
• The study emphasizes the distinct impact of puberty on adolescent brain maturation.