Neuroimaging evidence for right orbitofrontal cortex differences in adolescents with emotional and behavioral dysregulation

Spechler, Philip A.; Chaarani, Bader; Orr, Catherine; Mackey, Scott; Higgins, Stephen T.; Banaschewski, Tobias; Bokde, Arun L.W.; Bromberg, Uli; B�chel, Christian; Burke Quinlan, Erin; Conrod, Patricia J.; Desrivi�res, Sylvane; Flor, Herta; Frouin, Vincent; Gowland, Penny; Heinz, Andreas; Ittermann, Bernd; Martinot, Jean-Luc; Nees, Frauke; Papadopoulos Orfanos, Dimitri; Poustka, Luise; Fr�hner, Juliane H.; Smolka, Michael N.; Walter, Henrik; Whelan, Robert; Schumann, Gunter; Garavan, Hugh; Althoff, Robert R.; IMAGEN Consortium

Abstract

Objective: To characterize the structural and functional neurobiology of a large group of adolescents exhibiting a behaviorally and emotionally dysregulated phenotype.
Methods: Age 14 adolescents from the IMAGEN study were investigated. Latent class analysis (LCA) on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used to identify a class of individuals with elevated behavioral and emotional difficulties (“dysregulated”; N=233) who were compared to a matched sample from a low symptom class (controls, N=233). Whole-brain gray matter volume (GMV) images were compared using a general linear model with 10,000 random label permutations. Regional GMV findings were then probed for functional differences from three fMRI tasks. Significant brain features then informed mediation path models linking the likelihood of psychiatric disorders (DSM-IV) with dysregulation.
Results: Whole-brain differences were found in the right orbitofrontal cortex (R.OFC; p less than .05; k=48), with dysregulated individuals exhibiting lower GMV. The dysregulated group also exhibited higher activity in this region during successful inhibitory control (F1,429=7.53, p less than .05). Path analyses indicated significant direct effects between the likelihood of psychopathologies and dysregulation. Modeling the R.OFC as a mediator returned modest partial effects, suggesting the path linking the likelihood of an anxiety or conduct disorder diagnoses to dysregulation is partially explained by this anatomical feature.
Conclusion: A large sample of dysregulated adolescents exhibited lower GMV in the R.OFC relative to controls. Dysregulated individuals also exhibited higher regional activations when exercising inhibitory control at performance levels comparable to controls. These findings suggest a neurobiological marker of dysregulation, and highlight the role of the R.OFC in impaired emotional and behavioral control.

Citation

Spechler, P. A., Chaarani, B., Orr, C., Mackey, S., Higgins, S. T., Banaschewski, T., …IMAGEN Consortium. (2019). Neuroimaging evidence for right orbitofrontal cortex differences in adolescents with emotional and behavioral dysregulation. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 58(11), 1092-1103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2019.01.021

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 31, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Apr 17, 2019
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jan 9, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 18, 2020
• Journal: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Print ISSN: 0890-8567
• Electronic ISSN: 1527-5418
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 58
• Issue: 11
• Pages: 1092-1103
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2019.01.021
• Keywords: Developmental and Educational Psychology; Psychiatry and Mental health
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1458061
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890856719302618
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Neuroimaging Evidence for Right Orbitofrontal Cortex Differences in Adolescents With Emotional and Behavioral Dysregulation; Journal Title: Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2019.01.021; Content Type: article; Copyright: ©2019 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry