Human subcortical brain asymmetries in 15,847 people worldwide reveal effects of age and sex

Tulio Guadalupe, Samuel R Mathias, Theo G M vanErp, Christopher D Whelan, Marcel P Zwiers, Yoshinari Abe, Lucija Abramovic, Ingrid Agartz, Ole A Andreassen, Alejandro Arias-Vásquez, Benjamin S Aribisala, Nicola J Armstrong, Volker Arolt, Eric Artiges, Rosa Ayesa-Arriola, Vatche G Baboyan, Tobias Banaschewski, Mark E Bastin, Bernhard T Baune, John BlangeroArun L W Bokde, Premika S W Boedhoe, Anushree Bose, Silvia Brem, Henry Brodaty, Uli Bromberg, Samantha Brooks, Christian Büchel, Jan Buitelaar, Vince D Calhoun, Dara M Cannon, Anna Cattrell, Yuqi Cheng, Patricia J Conrod, Annette Conzelmann, Aiden Corvin, Benedicto Crespo-Facorro, Fabrice Crivello, Udo Dannlowski, Greig I de Zubicaray, Sonja M C de Zwarte, Ian J Deary, Sylvane Desrivières, Nhat Trung Doan, Gary Donohoe, Erlend S Dørum, Stefan Ehrlich, Thomas Espeseth, Guillén Fernández, Herta Flor, Jean-Paul Fouche, Vincent Frouin, Masaki Fukunaga, Jürgen Gallinat, Hugh Garavan, Andrea Gonzalez Suarez, Penny Gowland, Hans J Grabe, Dominik Grotegerd, Oliver Gruber, Saskia Hagenaars, Ryota Hashimoto, Tobias U Hauser, Andreas Heinz, Derrek P Hibar, Pieter J Hoekstra, Martine Hoogman, Fleur M Howells, Hao Hu, Hilleke E Hulshoff Pol, Chaim Huyser, Bernd Ittermann, Neda Jahanshad, Erik G Jönsson, Sarah Jurk, Rene S Kahn, Sinead Kelly, Bernd Kraemer, Harald Kugel, Jun Soo Kwon, Herve Lemaitre, Klaus-Peter Lesch, Christine Lochner, Michelle Luciano, Andre F Marquand, Nicholas G Martin, Ignacio Martínez-Zalacaín, Jean-Luc Martinot, David Mataix-Cols, Karen Mather, Colm McDonald, Katie L McMahon, José M Menchón, Derek W Morris, Omar Mothersill, Susana Munoz Maniega, Benson Mwangi, Takashi Nakamae, Tomohiro Nakao, Janardhanan C Narayanaswaamy, Frauke Nees, Jan E Nordvik, A Marten H Onnink, Nils Opel, Roel Ophoff, Marie-Laure Paillère Martinot, Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos, Paul Pauli, Tomáš Paus, Luise Poustka, Janardhan Yc Reddy, Miguel E Renteria, Roberto Roiz-Santiáñez, Annerine Roos, Natalie A Royle, Perminder Sachdev, Pascual Sánchez-Juan, Lianne Schmaal, Gunter Schumann, Elena Shumskaya, Michael N Smolka, Jair C Soares, Carles Soriano-Mas, Dan J Stein, Lachlan T Strike, Roberto Toro, Nathalie Tzourio-Mazoyer, Anne Uhlmann, Maria Valdés Hernández, Odile A van den Heuvel, Dennis van der Meer, Neeltje E M van Haren, Dick J Veltman, Ganesan Venkatasubramanian, Nora C Vetter, Daniella Vuletic, Susanne Walitza, Henrik Walter, Esther Walton, Zhen Wang, Joanna Wardlaw, Wei Wen, Lars T Westlye, Robert Whelan, Katharina Wittfeld, Thomas Wolfers, Margaret J Wright, Xiufeng Xu, Je-Yeon Yun, JingJing Zhao, Barbara Franke, David C Glahn, Bernard Mazoyer, Simon E Fisher, Clyde Francks

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

121 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

The two hemispheres of the human brain differ functionally and structurally. Despite over a century of research, the extent to which brain asymmetry is influenced by sex, handedness, age, and genetic factors is still controversial. Here we present the largest ever analysis of subcortical brain asymmetries, in a harmonized multi-site study using meta-analysis methods. Volumetric asymmetry of seven subcortical structures was assessed in 15,847 MRI scans from 52 datasets worldwide. There were sex differences in the asymmetry of the globus pallidus and putamen. Heritability estimates, derived from 1170 subjects belonging to 71 extended pedigrees, revealed that additive genetic factors influenced the asymmetry of these two structures and that of the hippocampus and thalamus. Handedness had no detectable effect on subcortical asymmetries, even in this unprecedented sample size, but the asymmetry of the putamen varied with age. Genetic drivers of asymmetry in the hippocampus, thalamus and basal ganglia may affect variability in human cognition, including susceptibility to psychiatric disorders.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1497-1514
Number of pages18
JournalBrain Imaging and Behavior
Early online date13 Oct 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Oct 2017

Keywords

  • Subcortical brain asymmetry
  • Age
  • Handedness
  • Sex
  • Enigma
  • Heritability
  • Meta-analysis

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