Developmental variation in regional brain iron and its relation to cognitive functions in childhood
Non-heme iron is a vital metabolic cofactor for many core processes of brain development including myelination, dendritogenesis, and neurotransmitter synthesis, and accumulates in the brain with age. However, little is known about development-related differences in brain iron and its association wit...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2018-11-01
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| Series: | Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929317301998 |
| _version_ | 1818280739166224384 |
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| author | Jasmine L. Hect Ana M. Daugherty Klodia M. Hermez Moriah E. Thomason |
| author_facet | Jasmine L. Hect Ana M. Daugherty Klodia M. Hermez Moriah E. Thomason |
| author_sort | Jasmine L. Hect |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Non-heme iron is a vital metabolic cofactor for many core processes of brain development including myelination, dendritogenesis, and neurotransmitter synthesis, and accumulates in the brain with age. However, little is known about development-related differences in brain iron and its association with emerging cognitive abilities during formative years. In this study, we estimated brain iron via R2* relaxometry in children ages 7–16 (N = 57; 38 females) and examined its relation to age-related differences in cognitive ability. As we hypothesized, age correlated positively with iron content in the hippocampus and across subregions of the basal ganglia. The magnitude of age differences in iron content differed between regions such that the largest effects were observed in basal ganglia subregions: globus pallidus, substantia nigra, caudate nucleus, and putamen, as compared to values obtained for the hippocampus and red nucleus. We did not observe sex or hemispheric differences in iron content. Notably, greater brain iron content was associated with both faster processing speed and higher general intelligence, and shared 21.4% of the age-related improvement in processing speed and 12.5% of the improvement in general intelligence. These results suggest that non-heme iron plays a central neurobiological role in the development of critical cognitive abilities during childhood. Keywords: Non-heme iron, Development, Cognition, R2* relaxometry |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T23:54:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-71a21f82cdb24d428e45411c651a3dee |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1878-9293 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T23:54:00Z |
| publishDate | 2018-11-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-71a21f82cdb24d428e45411c651a3dee2022-12-22T00:06:38ZengElsevierDevelopmental Cognitive Neuroscience1878-92932018-11-01341826Developmental variation in regional brain iron and its relation to cognitive functions in childhoodJasmine L. Hect0Ana M. Daugherty1Klodia M. Hermez2Moriah E. Thomason3Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child and Family Development, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA; Corresponding author at: Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute, Wayne State University, E. Ferry Street, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA.Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USAMerrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child and Family Development, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA; Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, East Lansing, MI, 48825, USAMerrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child and Family Development, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA; Perinatology Research Branch, NICHD/NIH/DHHS, Bethesda, MD, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, 48202, USANon-heme iron is a vital metabolic cofactor for many core processes of brain development including myelination, dendritogenesis, and neurotransmitter synthesis, and accumulates in the brain with age. However, little is known about development-related differences in brain iron and its association with emerging cognitive abilities during formative years. In this study, we estimated brain iron via R2* relaxometry in children ages 7–16 (N = 57; 38 females) and examined its relation to age-related differences in cognitive ability. As we hypothesized, age correlated positively with iron content in the hippocampus and across subregions of the basal ganglia. The magnitude of age differences in iron content differed between regions such that the largest effects were observed in basal ganglia subregions: globus pallidus, substantia nigra, caudate nucleus, and putamen, as compared to values obtained for the hippocampus and red nucleus. We did not observe sex or hemispheric differences in iron content. Notably, greater brain iron content was associated with both faster processing speed and higher general intelligence, and shared 21.4% of the age-related improvement in processing speed and 12.5% of the improvement in general intelligence. These results suggest that non-heme iron plays a central neurobiological role in the development of critical cognitive abilities during childhood. Keywords: Non-heme iron, Development, Cognition, R2* relaxometryhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929317301998 |
| spellingShingle | Jasmine L. Hect Ana M. Daugherty Klodia M. Hermez Moriah E. Thomason Developmental variation in regional brain iron and its relation to cognitive functions in childhood Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience |
| title | Developmental variation in regional brain iron and its relation to cognitive functions in childhood |
| title_full | Developmental variation in regional brain iron and its relation to cognitive functions in childhood |
| title_fullStr | Developmental variation in regional brain iron and its relation to cognitive functions in childhood |
| title_full_unstemmed | Developmental variation in regional brain iron and its relation to cognitive functions in childhood |
| title_short | Developmental variation in regional brain iron and its relation to cognitive functions in childhood |
| title_sort | developmental variation in regional brain iron and its relation to cognitive functions in childhood |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929317301998 |
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