3-211 - Sex Steroids and Adolescent Brain Development: A Translational Approach to Understanding Vulnerabilities for Affective Disorders

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Adolescence, with the onset of puberty, represents a developmental period that heralds increased vulnerability for emotional and behavioral health problems, which have been linked with altered regulation of affect and behavior. This symposium examines how endocrine influences on neurodevelopment during adolescence could contribute to vulnerabilities for psychopathology.

This symposium features four papers that examine sex differences and endocrine changes on adolescent brain function and structure, including animal and human neuroimaging studies. The first paper describes work using rodent models to understand mechanisms underlying sex differences in the development of depression. This paper shows that genetic, but not gonadal, sex differences in GABA-related gene expression in the basolateral amygdala during adolescence could contribute to adult mood-related behaviors.The second paper reports findings suggesting that early adrenarcheal timing influences the onset of depression through changes in hippocampal volumes. The third paper presents fMRI data during reward anticipation in healthy adolescents demonstrating that girls, but not boys, exhibit reduced striatal activation to reward cues as a function of more advanced gonadarche and higher levels of estradiol. Finally, using a population-based design, the fourth paper reports findings indicating that, after controlling for age, more advanced pubertal maturation is associated with reduced striatal intrinsic functional connectivity in healthy adolescents. Discussion of these papers will center on the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to elucidating sex and endocrine influences on adolescent brain development in ways that can deepen understanding of the development of psychopathology.

Sub Unit

• Biology and Neuroscience

Chair

• Cecile D. Ladouceur, University of Pittsburgh

Individual Presentations

• Adolescent sex differences in expression of GABA-related genes in the basolateral amygdala - Presenting Author: Marianne Seney, University of Pittsburgh; Rachel Rachel Puralewski, University of Pittsburgh; Georgia Vasilakis, University of Pittsburgh

• Adrenarcheal hormones: associations with neuroanatomy and depression in children - Presenting Author: Rachel Ellis, University of Melbourne; Anna Fernandes, University of Melbourne; Julian G. Simmons, The University of Melbourne; Michelle Lynn Byrne, University of Oregon; Nicholas B. Allen, University of Oregon; Sarah Whittle, The University of Melbourne

• Sex and puberty-specific influences on striatal activation to reward cues in healthy adolescents - Presenting Author: Cecile D. Ladouceur, University of Pittsburgh; Rebecca Kerestes, University of Pittsburgh; Salena Binnig, University of Pittsburgh; Alysse Berry, University of Pittsburgh; Michael Schlund, University of North Texas; Elizabeth Shirtcliff, Iowa State University; Ronald E. Dahl, University of California, Berkeley

• Pubertal maturation associated with decreased striatal intrinsic functional connectivity in adolescents - Presenting Author: Monique Ernst, National Institute of Mental Health; Adam Gorka, National Institute of Mental Health; Brenda Benson, National Institute of Mental Health; Tiffany Lago, National Institute of Mental Health