Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Convergent Evidence for Predispositional Effects of Brain Gray Matter Volume on Alcohol Consumption.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Baranger, DAA; Demers, CH; Elsayed, NM; Knodt, AR; Radtke, SR; Desmarais, A; Few, LR; Agrawal, A; Heath, AC; Barch, DM; Squeglia, LM ...
Published in: Biological psychiatry
April 2020

Alcohol use has been reliably associated with smaller subcortical and cortical regional gray matter volumes (GMVs). Whether these associations reflect shared predisposing risk factors or causal consequences of alcohol use remains poorly understood.Data came from 3 neuroimaging samples (N = 2423), spanning childhood or adolescence to middle age, with prospective or family-based data. First, we identified replicable GMV correlates of alcohol use. Next, we used family-based and longitudinal data to test whether these associations may plausibly reflect a predispositional liability for alcohol use or a causal consequence of alcohol use. Finally, we used heritability, gene-set enrichment, and transcriptome-wide association study approaches to evaluate whether genome-wide association study-defined genomic risk for alcohol consumption is enriched for genes that are preferentially expressed in regions that were identified in our neuroimaging analyses.Smaller right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (i.e., middle and superior frontal gyri) and insula GMVs were associated with increased alcohol use across samples. Family-based and prospective longitudinal data suggest that these associations are genetically conferred and that DLPFC GMV prospectively predicts future use and initiation. Genomic risk for alcohol use was enriched in gene sets that were preferentially expressed in the DLPFC and was associated with replicable differential gene expression in the DLPFC.These data suggest that smaller DLPFC and insula GMV plausibly represent genetically conferred predispositional risk factors for, as opposed to consequences of, alcohol use. DLPFC and insula GMV represent promising biomarkers for alcohol-consumption liability and related psychiatric and behavioral phenotypes.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Biological psychiatry

DOI

EISSN

1873-2402

ISSN

0006-3223

Publication Date

April 2020

Volume

87

Issue

7

Start / End Page

645 / 655

Related Subject Headings

  • Psychiatry
  • Prospective Studies
  • Middle Aged
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Humans
  • Gray Matter
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Child
  • Brain
  • Alcohol Drinking
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Baranger, D. A. A., Demers, C. H., Elsayed, N. M., Knodt, A. R., Radtke, S. R., Desmarais, A., … Bogdan, R. (2020). Convergent Evidence for Predispositional Effects of Brain Gray Matter Volume on Alcohol Consumption. Biological Psychiatry, 87(7), 645–655. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.08.029
Baranger, David A. A., Catherine H. Demers, Nourhan M. Elsayed, Annchen R. Knodt, Spenser R. Radtke, Aline Desmarais, Lauren R. Few, et al. “Convergent Evidence for Predispositional Effects of Brain Gray Matter Volume on Alcohol Consumption.Biological Psychiatry 87, no. 7 (April 2020): 645–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.08.029.
Baranger DAA, Demers CH, Elsayed NM, Knodt AR, Radtke SR, Desmarais A, et al. Convergent Evidence for Predispositional Effects of Brain Gray Matter Volume on Alcohol Consumption. Biological psychiatry. 2020 Apr;87(7):645–55.
Baranger, David A. A., et al. “Convergent Evidence for Predispositional Effects of Brain Gray Matter Volume on Alcohol Consumption.Biological Psychiatry, vol. 87, no. 7, Apr. 2020, pp. 645–55. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.08.029.
Baranger DAA, Demers CH, Elsayed NM, Knodt AR, Radtke SR, Desmarais A, Few LR, Agrawal A, Heath AC, Barch DM, Squeglia LM, Williamson DE, Hariri AR, Bogdan R. Convergent Evidence for Predispositional Effects of Brain Gray Matter Volume on Alcohol Consumption. Biological psychiatry. 2020 Apr;87(7):645–655.
Journal cover image

Published In

Biological psychiatry

DOI

EISSN

1873-2402

ISSN

0006-3223

Publication Date

April 2020

Volume

87

Issue

7

Start / End Page

645 / 655

Related Subject Headings

  • Psychiatry
  • Prospective Studies
  • Middle Aged
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Humans
  • Gray Matter
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Child
  • Brain
  • Alcohol Drinking