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@INPROCEEDINGS{Hettwer:1022112,
author = {Hettwer, Meike and Valk, Sofie and Eickhoff, Simon and
Dorfschmidt, Lena and Bethlehem, Richard},
title = {{S}ystem-level cortical maturation links to adolescent
resilience to adverse life events},
reportid = {FZJ-2024-01233},
year = {2023},
abstract = {Introduction: Adolescence is a period of increased brain
reorganization that is essential to biological and
psychosocial maturation, but also to mental health (Paus et
al., 2008). Normative adolescent brain maturation as
captured via neuroimaging follows two main modes: 1)
conservative strengthening of initially strong connections,
or 2) disruptive remodeling, i.e. strengthening of initially
weak connections and vice versa (Váša et al., 2020). While
adverse experiences and psychopathological processes can
alter maturational trajectories (Stenson et al., 2021),
adolescent reorganization may also hold potential for
flexible adaptation to risk factors. Thus, normative
maturation facilitating psychosocial skills may also aid
well-being through resilience to adversity.Methods: We
analyzed age-related changes in microstructural profile
covariance (MPC; Fig. 1A) and resting-state functional
connectivity (FC; Fig. 1B) in a longitudinal cohort of
individuals aged 14-26 (n=295; 512 scans; $50.8\%$ female).
MPC reflects inter-regional similarity of intracortical
profiles based on myelin-sensitive magnetic transfer (MT)
data sampled at ten cortical depths. We first identified
maturational modes by correlating the whole-brain MPC and FC
patterns of each region at age 14 with the age-related
changes of these patterns (14-26y; computed via edge-wise
linear mixed effect models; Fig. 1C). Positive correlations
indicate conservative and negative correlations disruptive
development (FDR<0.05). Next, we investigated whether
observed maturational patterns may contribute to resilience
to adverse life events. From the total cohort, we drew a
sub-sample (n=281) of individuals who reported adverse life
experiences in the past 18 months. Conceptualizing
resilience as adaptation to adversity, individuals were
matched based on their adversity load and allocated to
either high (n=88) or low resilient (n=89) groups based on
reported well-being scores (top or bottom $33\%,$
respectively; Fig. 2A). Structural and functional brain
maturational modes were contrasted between the two groups
via Fisher’s z differences.Results: Our work describes
topologically heterogeneous patterns of structural and
functional maturational modes (Fig. 1D) and differential
associations with resilience. We observed disruptive
development of MPC in frontal and parietal cortical areas,
and conservative development in sensory, paralimbic,
temporal and medial frontal regions. Linking structure to
function, we found parallel conservative development in
regions involved in sensory- and attention-related
processes. Default mode and frontoparietal networks showed
both cross-modal disruptive rewiring and a
structure-function divergence, in which structure showed
conservative but function disruptive developmental patterns
(Fig. 1E). Last, we found that individuals who maintain
better well-being after exposure to adverse life events
showed overall less conservative and more disruptive
functional maturational patterns, indicating increased
functional network rewiring during development. Effects were
smaller for structural patterns and suggested a potential
benefit of disruptive MPC development only in regions where
change occurs in parallel with functional change (Fig.
2B).Conclusion: Our longitudinal findings show overlapping
but distinct patterns of structural and functional
reorganization during adolescence. Cross-modal cortical
transformations and structure-function decoupling in
maturational modes were observed in association and
paralimbic cortex, which are known to show protracted
plasticity associated with both sociocognitive refinement
and psychopathological alterations (Sydnor et al., 2021).
Our findings suggest that brain remodeling throughout
adolescence is especially pronounced in individuals showing
better adaptation to adverse life events, and may thus
facilitate resilience. This observation is in line with
current psychological constructs of resilience as an
adaptive, flexible process (Kalisch et al., 2017).},
month = {Jul},
date = {2023-07-22},
organization = {Organization for Human Brain Mapping,
Montreal (Canada), 22 Jul 2023 - 26 Jul
2023},
subtyp = {Other},
cin = {INM-7},
cid = {I:(DE-Juel1)INM-7-20090406},
pnm = {5251 - Multilevel Brain Organization and Variability
(POF4-525) / 5253 - Neuroimaging (POF4-525)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-5251 / G:(DE-HGF)POF4-5253},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)6},
url = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1022112},
}