Biology subjects

Jurado, M. A.

Publications and source records attributed to Jurado, M. A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2019

Inflammatory agents partially explain changes in cortical thickness and surface area related to body mass index in adolescence

Background/ObjectivesExcessive body mass index (BMI) has been linked to a low-grade chronic inflammation state. Unhealthy BMI has also been related to neuroanatomical changes in adults. However, research in adolescents is relatively limited and has produced conflicting results. This study aims to address the relationship between BMI and adolescents brain structure as well as to test the role that inflammatory adipose-related agents might have over this putative link.\n\nMethodsWe studied structural MRI and serum levels of interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-), C-reactive protein and fibrinogen in 65 adolescents (aged 12-21 years). Relationships between BMI, cortical thickness and surface area were tested with a vertex-wise analysis. Subsequently, we used backward multiple linear regression models to explore the influence of inflammatory parameters in each brain-altered area.\n\nResultsWe found a negative association between cortical thickness and BMI in the left lateral occipital cortex (LOC), the left fusiform gyrus and the right precentral gyrus as well as a positive relationship between surface area and BMI in the left rostral middle frontal gyrus and the right superior frontal gyrus. In addition, we found that higher fibrinogen serum concentrations were related to thinning within the left LOC ({beta} = -0.45, p < 0.001) and the left fusiform gyrus ({beta} = - 0.33, p = 0.035), while higher serum levels of TNF- were associated to a greater surface area in the right superior frontal gyrus ({beta} = 0.32, p = 0.045).\n\nConclusionsThese results suggest that adolescents body mass increases are related with brain abnormalities in areas that could play a relevant role in some aspects of feeding behavior. Likewise, we have evidenced that these cortical changes were partially driven by inflammatory agents such as fibrinogen and TNF-.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2019

Obesity and brain topological organization differences throughout the lifespan

Life expectancy and obesity rates have drastically increased in recent years. An unhealthy weight is related to long-lasting biological deregulations that might compromise the normal course of aging. The aim of the current study was to test whether the network composition of young adults with obesity would show signs of premature aging. To this end, subjects with obesity (N = 30, mean age 32.8 {+/-} 5.68), healthy-weight controls (N = 33, mean age 30.9 {+/-} 6.24) as well as non-demented seniors (N = 30, mean age 67.1 {+/-} 6.65) all underwent a resting-state MRI acquisition. Functional connectivity was studied by means of graph-theory measurements (i.e., small-world index, clustering coefficient, characteristic path length, and mean degree). Contrary to what expected, obesity in adults was related to disruptions in small-world properties driven by increases in network segregation (i.e., clustering coefficient) as compared to elders. Also, this group showed alterations in global and regional centrality metrics (i.e., degree) relative to controls and seniors. Despite not mimicking what was here shown by seniors, the topological organization linked to an obesity status may represent a flaw for cognitive functions depending on the rapid combination between different modular communities.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

Shared vulnerability for connectome alterations across psychiatric and neurological brain disorders

Macroscale white matter pathways form the infrastructure for large-scale communication in the human brain, a prerequisite for healthy brain function. Conversely, disruptions in the brains connectivity architecture are thought to play an important role in a wide range of psychiatric and neurological brain disorders. Here we show that especially connections important for global communication and network integration are involved in a wide range of brain disorders. We report on a meta-analytic connectome study comprising in total 895 patients and 1,016 controls across twelve neurological and psychiatric disorders. We extracted disorder connectome fingerprints for each of these twelve disorders, which were then combined into a cross-disorder disconnectivity involvement map, representing the involvement of each brain pathway across brain disorders. Our findings show connections central to the brains infrastructure are disproportionally involved across a wide range of disorders. Connections critical for global network communication and integration display high disturbance across disorders, suggesting a general cross-disorder involvement and importance of these pathways in normal function. Taken together, our cross-disorder study suggests a convergence of disconnectivity across disorders to a partially shared disconnectivity substrate of central connections.

neuroscience↗