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. 2023 Apr:60:101228.
doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101228. Epub 2023 Mar 9.

Associations between multi-method latent factors of puberty and brain structure in adolescent girls

Michelle L Byrne  1 , Nandita Vijayakumar  2 , Samantha J Chavez  3 , John C Flournoy  4 , Theresa W Cheng  5 , Kathryn L Mills  6 , Marjolein E A Barendse  7 , Arian Mobasser  3 , Jessica E Flannery  8 , Benjamin W Nelson  8 , Wen Wang  3 , Elizabeth A Shirtcliff  3 , Nicholas B Allen  3 , Jennifer H Pfeifer  3
Affiliations

Associations between multi-method latent factors of puberty and brain structure in adolescent girls

Michelle L Byrne et al. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2023 Apr.

Abstract

Pubertal processes are associated with structural brain development, but studies have produced inconsistent findings that may relate to different measurements of puberty. Measuring both hormones and physical characteristics is important for capturing variation in neurobiological development. The current study explored associations between cortical thickness and latent factors from multi-method pubertal data in 174 early adolescent girls aged 10-13 years in the Transitions in Adolescent Girls (TAG) Study. Our multi-method approach used self-reported physical characteristics and hormone levels (dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), testosterone (T), and estradiol (E2) from saliva) to estimate an overall pubertal factor and for each process of adrenarche and gonadarche. There were negative associations between the overall puberty factor representing later stage and thickness in the posterior cortex, including the occipital cortices and extending laterally to the parietal lobe. However, the multi-method latent factor had weaker cortical associations when examining the adnearcheal process alone, suggesting physical characteristics and hormones capture different aspects of neurobiological development during adrenarche. Controlling for age weakened some of these associations. These findings show that associations between pubertal stage and cortical thickness differ depending on the measurement method and the pubertal process, and both should be considered in future confirmatory studies on the developing brain.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Michelle Byrne reports financial support was provided by National Institute of Mental Health. Theresa Cheng reports financial support was provided by National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
One-factor full model combining salivary DHEA, T, E2, and self-report items (PDS and LD). PDS1 = growth in height; PDS2 = growth of body hair (underarm and pubic); PDS3 = skin changes, especially pimples; PDS4 = breasts begun to grow; PDS6 = begun to menstruate (Y/N); LD1 = breast development (line drawing); LD2 = pubic hair (line drawing).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Two-factor full model combining salivary DHEA, T, E2, and self-report items (PDS and LD). PDS1 = growth in height; PDS2 = growth of body hair (underarm and pubic); PDS3 = skin changes, especially pimples; PDS4 = breasts begun to grow; PDS6 = begun to menstruate (Y/N); LD1 = breast development (line drawing); LD2 = pubic hair (line drawing).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Two-factor full model correlating ADR, GON, and chronological age. PDS1 = growth in height; PDS2 = growth of body hair (underarm and pubic); PDS3 = skin changes, especially pimples; PDS4 = breasts begun to grow; PDS6 = begun to menstruate (Y/N); LD1 = breast development (line drawing); LD2 = pubic hair (line drawing).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Two-factor full model correlating ADR and GON both controlling for age. PDS1 = growth in height; PDS2 = growth of body hair (underarm and pubic); PDS3 = skin changes, especially pimples; PDS4 = breasts begun to grow; PDS6 = begun to menstruate (Y/N); LD1 = breast development (line drawing); LD2 = pubic hair (line drawing).
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
One-factor full model correlating PUB and chronological age. PDS1 = growth in height; PDS2 = growth of body hair (underarm and pubic); PDS3 = skin changes, especially pimples; PDS4 = breasts begun to grow; PDS6 = begun to menstruate (Y/N); LD1 = breast development (line drawing); LD2 = pubic hair (line drawing).
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Estimated correlations from structural equation models between cortical thickness and multi-method (self-reported physical characteristics from the Pubertal Development Scale and Morris & Udry line drawing, and levels of hormone dehydroepiandrosterone, testosterone, and estradiol in saliva) latent factors of overall pubertal, adrenarcheal, and gonadarcheal stage in a sample of girls aged 10–13. Images were created with freesurfer_statsurf_display ( https://chrisadamsonmcri.github.io/freesurfer_statsurf_display). A: anterior; P: posterior; LH: left hemisphere, RH: right hemisphere, R: correlation coefficient estimated in latent models.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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