Open AccessMapping brain asymmetry in health and disease through the ENIGMA consortium
Author(s) -
Kong XiangZhen,
Postema Merel C.,
Guadalupe Tulio,
Kovel Carolien,
Boedhoe Premika S. W.,
Hoogman Martine,
Mathias Samuel R.,
Rooij Daan,
Schijven Dick,
Glahn David C.,
Medland Sarah E.,
Jahanshad Neda,
Thomopoulos Sophia I.,
Turner Jessica A.,
Buitelaar Jan,
Erp Theo G. M.,
Franke Barbara,
Fisher Simon E.,
Heuvel Odile A.,
Schmaal Lianne,
Thompson Paul M.,
Francks Clyde
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
human brain mapping
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.005
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1097-0193
pISSN - 1065-9471
DOI - 10.1002/hbm.25033
Subject(s) - brain asymmetry , asymmetry , psychology , autism spectrum disorder , neuroscience , population , laterality , autism , major depressive disorder , brain size , developmental psychology , lateralization of brain function , magnetic resonance imaging , medicine , cognition , physics , environmental health , quantum mechanics , radiology
Left–right asymmetry of the human brain is one of its cardinal features, and also a complex, multivariate trait. Decades of research have suggested that brain asymmetry may be altered in psychiatric disorders. However, findings have been inconsistent and often based on small sample sizes. There are also open questions surrounding which structures are asymmetrical on average in the healthy population, and how variability in brain asymmetry relates to basic biological variables such as age and sex. Over the last 4 years, the ENIGMA‐Laterality Working Group has published six studies of gray matter morphological asymmetry based on total sample sizes from roughly 3,500 to 17,000 individuals, which were between one and two orders of magnitude larger than those published in previous decades. A population‐level mapping of average asymmetry was achieved, including an intriguing fronto‐occipital gradient of cortical thickness asymmetry in healthy brains. ENIGMA's multi‐dataset approach also supported an empirical illustration of reproducibility of hemispheric differences across datasets. Effect sizes were estimated for gray matter asymmetry based on large, international, samples in relation to age, sex, handedness, and brain volume, as well as for three psychiatric disorders: autism spectrum disorder was associated with subtly reduced asymmetry of cortical thickness at regions spread widely over the cortex; pediatric obsessive–compulsive disorder was associated with altered subcortical asymmetry; major depressive disorder was not significantly associated with changes of asymmetry. Ongoing studies are examining brain asymmetry in other disorders. Moreover, a groundwork has been laid for possibly identifying shared genetic contributions to brain asymmetry and disorders.