A longitudinal study: the influence of sex and puberty on neurodevelopment

描述（由申请人提供）：青春期是重要的神经发育时期，也是精神病理学开始以性别特异性方式出现的时期。我们必须了解哪些因素影响典型的大脑发育和精神病理学的脆弱性。迄今为止，对大脑组织和结构的研究主要是在年龄的发展背景下进行的。然而，最近的研究表明，青春期可能对女孩和男孩的神经成熟时间有独特的贡献，并可能导致青春期出现的心理健康问题的发展。然而，由于其横断面研究设计，大多数这些研究的结论是有限的。本项目的目标是更全面地 描述青春期成熟的影响，通过身体和激素评估来衡量，对典型发育中的女孩和男孩的大脑和心理健康行为。利用两个独立的纵向设计数据集，拟议的研究将使用多模式方法，包括结构和功能磁共振成像（MRI）和扩散张量成像，以量化青春期成熟在预测相同青少年平均2年内神经发育变化方面的贡献。此外，目前的研究将检查是否青春期相关的变化是不同的或相似的性别，并使用行为自我报告，确定是否青春期相关的变化率的个体差异， 大脑成熟影响典型发育中的青少年的内化和外化行为。通过提高我们对青春期在神经发育中所起作用的理解，这些实验作为确定青春期对神经发育的影响是否有助于解释青春期期间以性别特异性方式出现的精神病理学的新的和必要的第一步。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Adolescence is a time period of significant neurodevelopment, and is also a time when psychopathology begins to emerge in a sex-specific fashion. It is essential for us to understand what factors influence typical brain development and vulnerability for psychopathology. To date, research on brain organization and structure have been primarily studied in the developmental context of age. Recent research, however, suggests that puberty may uniquely contribute to the timing of neuromaturation differently in girls and boys, and may potentially contribute to the development of mental health problems that materialize during adolescence. However, the conclusions from the majority of these studies are limited due to their cross-sectional study design. The goal of the current project is to more fully characterize the influence of pubertal maturation, as measured by physical and hormonal assessments, on brain and mental health behaviors in typically developing girls and boys. Utilizing two independent longitudinal design datasets, the proposed study will use a multimodal approach, including structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tensor imaging, to quantify the contributions of pubertal maturation in predicting changes in neurodevelopment within the same adolescents over an average of 2 years. Furthermore, the current study will examine if pubertal-related changes are distinct or similar depending on sex, and using behavioral self-reports, determine if individual differences in rates of pubertal-related brain maturation influence internalizing and externalizing behavior in typically developing adolescents. By improving our understanding of what role puberty plays in neurodevelopment, these experiments act as a novel and necessary first step toward determining if puberty's impact on neurodevelopment may help to explain the emergence of psychopathology in a sex-specific manner during adolescence.