TY - JOUR
T1 - A negative association between brainstem pontine grey-matter volume, well-being and resilience in healthy twins
AU - Gatt, Justine M.
AU - Burton, Karen L.O.
AU - Routledge, Kylie M.
AU - Grasby, Katrina L.
AU - Korgaonkar, Mayuresh S.
AU - Grieve, Stuart M.
AU - Schofield, Peter R.
AU - Harris, Anthony W.F.
AU - Clark, C. Richard
AU - Williams, Leanne M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage grant (LP0883621), with Brain Resource Ltd as industry partner. J. Gatt and M. Korgaonkar are supported by National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Career Development Fellowships (1062495 awarded to JMG and 1090148 to MSK). K. Routledge was supported by a NHMRC Postgraduate Public Health Scholarship (1055839). K. Grasby was supported by NHMRC grants (1103603 and 1103623). P. Schofield is supported by a NHMRC Program Grant (1037196). This research was facilitated through the Australian Twin Registry, a national research resource in part supported by a Centre of Research Excellence Grant from the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC ID 1079102). S. Grieve acknowledges the support of the Parker Hughes bequest and the Heart Research Institute. The authors gratefully acknowledge Sicong Tu for helping create the MRI images in Figure 1, and George Paxinos for advice on localization of the brain region.
Funding Information:
Acknowledgements: This project was supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage grant (LP0883621), with Brain Resource Ltd as industry partner. J. Gatt and M. Korgaonkar are supported by National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Career Development Fellowships (1062495 awarded to JMG and 1090148 to MSK). K. Routledge was supported by a NHMRC Post-graduate Public Health Scholarship (1055839). K. Grasby was supported by NHMRC grants (1103603 and 1103623). P. Schofield is supported by a NHMRC Program Grant (1037196). This research was facilitated through the Australian Twin Registry, a national research resource in part supported by a Centre of Research Excellence Grant from the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC ID 1079102). S. Grieve acknowledges the support of the Parker Hughes bequest and the Heart Research Institute. The authors gratefully acknowledge Sicong Tu for helping create the MRI images in Figure 1, and George Paxinos for advice on localization of the brain region.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Joule Inc.
PY - 2018/11/1
Y1 - 2018/11/1
N2 - Background: Associations between well-being, resilience to trauma and the volume of grey-matter regions involved in affective processing (e.g., threat/reward circuits) are largely unexplored, as are the roles of shared genetic and environmental factors derived from multivariate twin modelling. Methods: This study presents, to our knowledge, the first exploration of well-being and volumes of grey-matter regions involved in affective processing using a region-of-interest, voxel-based approach in 263 healthy adult twins (60% monozygotic pairs, 61% females, mean age 39.69 yr). To examine patterns for resilience (i.e., positive adaptation following adversity), we evaluated associations between the same brain regions and well-being in a trauma-exposed subgroup. Results: We found a correlated effect between increased well-being and reduced grey-matter volume of the pontine nuclei. This association was strongest for individuals with higher resilience to trauma. Multivariate twin modelling suggested that the common variance between the pons volume and well-being scores was due to environmental factors. Limitations: We used a cross-sectional sample; results need to be replicated longitudinally and in a larger sample. Conclusion: Associations with altered grey matter of the pontine nuclei suggest that basic sensory processes, such as arousal, startle, memory consolidation and/or emotional conditioning, may have a role in well-being and resilience.
AB - Background: Associations between well-being, resilience to trauma and the volume of grey-matter regions involved in affective processing (e.g., threat/reward circuits) are largely unexplored, as are the roles of shared genetic and environmental factors derived from multivariate twin modelling. Methods: This study presents, to our knowledge, the first exploration of well-being and volumes of grey-matter regions involved in affective processing using a region-of-interest, voxel-based approach in 263 healthy adult twins (60% monozygotic pairs, 61% females, mean age 39.69 yr). To examine patterns for resilience (i.e., positive adaptation following adversity), we evaluated associations between the same brain regions and well-being in a trauma-exposed subgroup. Results: We found a correlated effect between increased well-being and reduced grey-matter volume of the pontine nuclei. This association was strongest for individuals with higher resilience to trauma. Multivariate twin modelling suggested that the common variance between the pons volume and well-being scores was due to environmental factors. Limitations: We used a cross-sectional sample; results need to be replicated longitudinally and in a larger sample. Conclusion: Associations with altered grey matter of the pontine nuclei suggest that basic sensory processes, such as arousal, startle, memory consolidation and/or emotional conditioning, may have a role in well-being and resilience.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85055615450&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1503/jpn.170125
DO - 10.1503/jpn.170125
M3 - Article
SN - 0702-8466
VL - 43
SP - 386
EP - 395
JO - Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
IS - 6
ER -