Genetic Influences on the Development of Cerebral Cortical Thickness During Childhood and Adolescence in a Dutch Longitudinal Twin Sample: The Brainscale Study

Previous studies have demonstrated that cortical thickness (CT) is under strong genetic control across the life span. However, little is known about genetic influences that cause changes in cortical thickness (ΔCT) during brain development. We obtained 482 longitudinal MRI scans at ages 9, 12, and 17 years from 215 twins and applied structural equation modeling to estimate genetic influences on (1) cortical thickness between regions and across time, and (2) changes in cortical thickness between ages. Although cortical thickness is largely mediated by the same genetic factor throughout late childhood and adolescence, we found evidence for influences of distinct genetic factors on regions across space and time. In addition, we found genetic influences for cortical thinning during adolescence that is mostly due to fluctuating influences from the same genetic factor, with evidence of local influences from a second emerging genetic factor. This fluctuating core genetic factor and emerging novel genetic factor might be implicated in the rapid cognitive and behavioral development during childhood and adolescence, and could potentially be targets for investigation into the manifestation of psychiatric disorders that have their origin in childhood and adolescence.