Georgia University. US: Five genetic variants that influence the size of structures within
the human brain have been discovered by an international team that
included a Georgia State University researcher. Their findings were reported this week in the journal Nature.
In the study led by Drs. Sarah Medland, Margie Wright, Nick Martin
and Paul Thompson of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in
Australia, nearly 300 researchers analyzed genetic data and magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) scans from 30,717 individuals from around the
world. They evaluated genetic data from seven subcortical brain regions
(nucleus accumbens, caudate, putamen, pallidum, amygdala, hippocampus
and thalamus) and intracranial volume from MRI scans.
This is the largest analysis of brain structure and genetics ever
done, said Dr. Jessica Turner, associate professor of psychology and
neuroscience at Georgia State, who organized some of the teams
collecting and evaluating data from participants with schizophrenia.
The goal was to determine how common genetic variants affect the
structure of these seven subcortical brain regions, which are associated
with memory, movement, learning and motivation. Changes in these brain
areas can lead to abnormal behavior and predisposition to disease.
Previous research has shown the brain’s structure is strongly shaped
by genetic influences. Identifying genetic variants could provide
insight into the causes for variation in human brain development and
help to determine how dysfunction in the brain occurs.
“The team looked at several million base pairs or locations on the
human genome,” Turner said. “Through a large-scale, international data
sharing and data-analysis-sharing effort, we were able to actually
successfully identify genetic effects on the hippocampus, putamen and
other brain regions that no one had ever successfully identified
genetics effects on before.”