Brain-derived neurotrophic factor DNA methylation mediates the association between neighborhood disadvantage and adolescent brain structure

J Wrigglesworth; J Ryan; N Vijayakumar; S Whittle

Journal article

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor DNA methylation mediates the association between neighborhood disadvantage and adolescent brain structure

J Wrigglesworth, J Ryan, N Vijayakumar, S Whittle

Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging | ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD | Published : 2019

DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2018.12.012

Abstract

Prior research indicates that socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with prefrontal cortical (PFC) development in childhood and adolescence, however the mechanisms of this link are unclear. This study investigated whether DNA methylation of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF, which plays a key role in synaptic plasticity), mediated the association between neighborhood disadvantage and thickness of the PFC in adolescents. Neighborhood disadvantage was measured in 33 adolescents aged 12–13 years using the Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas. Buccal swabs, collected during mid-adolescence (aged 16–18 years), enabled BDNF DNA methylation of the widely studied exon IV promoter region to ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Nandita Vijayakumar Author

Sarah Whittle Author

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Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) [DP0878136]; the Colonial Foundation, the National Health and Medical Research Council [NHMRC Program Grant 350241]. Sarah Whittle was supported by a NHMRC Career Development Fellowship [ID: 1007716]. Joanne Ryan was supported by a NHMRC Dementia Leader Fellowship [ID: 1135727]. The funders had no role in the design and conduct of this study; collection, management, analysis, interpretation of the data, preparation, review or approval of the manuscript, and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.