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BACKGROUND: Prenatal exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs), widespread in North America, is associated with increased Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms and may be a modifiable risk for ADHD phenotypes. However, the effects of moderate exposure to POPs on task-based inhibitory control performance, related brain function, and ADHD-related symptoms remain unknown, limiting our ability to develop interventions targeting the neural impact of common levels of exposure. OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to examine the association between prenatal POP exposure and inhibitory control performance, neural correlates of inhibitory control and ADHD-related symptoms. METHODS: Prospective data was gathered in an observational study of Canadian mother-child dyads, with moderate exposure to POPs, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), as part of the GESTation and the Environment (GESTE) cohort in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The sample included 87 eligible children, 46 with maternal plasma samples, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data of Simon task performance at 9-11 years, and parental report of clinical symptoms via the Behavioral Assessment System for Children 3 (BASC-3). Simon task performance was probed via drift diffusion modeling, and parameter estimates were related to POP exposure. Simon task-based fMRI data was modeled to examine the difference in incongruent vs congruent trials in regions of interest (ROIs) identified by meta analysis. RESULTS: Of the 46 participants with complete data, 29 were male, and mean age was 10.42 ± 0.55 years. Increased POP exposure was associated with reduced accuracy (e.g. PCB molar sum rate ratio = 0.95; 95% CI [0.90, 0.99]), drift rate (e.g. for PCB molar sum ß = -0.42; 95% CI [-0.77, -0.07]), and task-related brain activity (e.g. in inferior frontal cortex for PCB molar sum ß = -0.35; 95% CI [-0.69, -0.02]), and increased ADHD symptoms (e.g. hyperactivity PCB molar sum ß = 2.35; 95%CI [0.17, 4.53]), supporting the possibility that prenatal exposure to POPs is a modifiable risk for ADHD phenotypes. DISCUSSION: We showed that exposure to POPs is related to task-based changes in neural activity in brain regions important for inhibitory control, suggesting a biological mechanism underlying previously documented associations between POPs and neurobehavioral deficits found in ADHD phenotypes.

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Animal studies have shown that developmental exposures to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) permanently affect blood/liver balance of lipids. No human study has evaluated associations between in utero exposures to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and later life lipid metabolism. In this pilot, maternal plasma levels of PBDEs (BDE-47, BDE-99, BDE-100, and BDE-153) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB-138, PCB-153, and PCB-180) were determined at delivery in participants of GESTation and Environment (GESTE) cohort. Total cholesterol (TCh), triglycerides (TG), low- and high-density lipoproteins (LDL-C and HDL-C), total lipids (TL), and PBDEs were determined in serum of 147 children at ages 6-7. General linear regression was used to estimate the relationship between maternal POPs and child lipid levels with adjustment for potential confounders, and adjustment for childhood POPs. In utero BDE-99 was associated with lower childhood levels of TG (p = 0.003), and non-significantly with HDL-C (p = 0.06) and TL (p = 0.07). Maternal PCB-138 was associated with lower childhood levels of TG (p = 0.04), LDL-C (p = 0.04), and TL (p = 0.02). Our data indicate that in utero exposures to POPs may be associated with long lasting decrease in circulating lipids in children, suggesting increased lipid accumulation in the liver, a mechanism involved in NAFLD development, consistent with previously reported animal data.

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BACKGROUND: Diffusion tensor imaging studies show reductions in fractional anisotropy (FA) in individuals with bipolar disorder and their unaffected siblings. However, the use of various analysis methods is an important source of between-study heterogeneity. Using tract-based spatial statistics, we previously demonstrated widespread FA reductions in patients and unaffected relatives. To better interpret the neuroanatomical pattern of this previous finding and to assess the influence of methodological heterogeneity, we here applied tractography to the same sample. METHODS: Diffusion-weighted images were acquired for 96 patients, 69 unaffected siblings and 56 controls. We applied TRACULA, an extension of a global probabilistic tractography algorithm, to automatically segment 18 major fiber tracts. Average FA within each tract and at each cross-section along each tract was compared between groups. RESULTS: Patients had reduced FA compared to healthy controls and their unaffected siblings in general, and in particular in the parietal part of the superior longitudinal fasciculus. In unaffected siblings, FA was nominally reduced compared to controls in the corpus callosum. Point-wise analyses indicated that similar effects were present along extended sections, but with variable effect sizes. Current symptom severity negatively correlated with FA in several fronto-limbic association tracts. CONCLUSIONS: The differential sensitivity of analysis techniques likely explains between-study heterogeneity in anatomical localization of FA reductions. The present tractography analysis confirms the presence of overall FA reductions in patients with bipolar disorder, which are most pronounced in the superior longitudinal fasciculus. Unaffected siblings may display similar, albeit more subtle and anatomically restricted FA reductions. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3474-3485, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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OBJECTIVE: Several lines of evidence indicate that white matter integrity is compromised in bipolar disorder, but the nature, extent, and biological causes remain elusive. To determine the extent to which white matter deficits in bipolar disorder are familial, the authors investigated white matter integrity in a large sample of bipolar patients, unaffected siblings, and healthy comparison subjects. METHOD: The authors collected diffusion imaging data for 64 adult bipolar patients, 60 unaffected siblings (including 54 discordant sibling pairs), and 46 demographically matched comparison subjects. Fractional anisotropy was compared between the groups using voxel-wise tract-based spatial statistics and by extracting mean fractional anisotropy from 10 regions of interest. Additionally, intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated between the sibling pairs as an index of familiality. RESULTS: Widespread fractional anisotropy reductions in bipolar patients (>40,000 voxels) and more subtle reductions in their siblings, mainly restricted to the corpus callosum, posterior thalamic radiations, and left superior longitudinal fasciculus (>2,000 voxels) were observed. Similarly, region-of-interest analysis revealed significant reductions in most white matter regions in patients. In siblings, fractional anisotropy in the posterior thalamic radiation and the forceps was nominally reduced. Significant between-sibling correlations were found for mean fractional anisotropy across the tract-based spatial statistic skeleton, within significant clusters, and within nearly all regions of interest. CONCLUSIONS: These findings emphasize the relevance of white matter to neuropathology and familiality of bipolar disorder and encourage further use of white matter integrity markers as endophenotypes in genetic studies.

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Genes encoding the proteins of cytoskeletal intermediate filaments (IF) are tightly regulated, and they are important for establishing neural connections. However, it remains uncertain to what extent neurological disease alters IF gene expression or impacts cells that express IFs. In this study, we determined the onset of visual deficits in a mouse model of progressive retinal degeneration (Pde6b(-) mice; Pde6b(+) mice have normal vision) by observing murine responses to a visual task throughout development, from postnatal day (PND) 21 to adult (N=174 reliable observations). Using Q-PCR, we evaluated whether expression of the genes encoding two Type III IF proteins, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and vimentin was altered in the visual cortex before, during, and after the onset of visual deficits. Using immunohistochemical techniques, we investigated the impact of vision loss on the density and morphology of astrocytes that expressed GFAP and vimentin in the visual cortex. We found that Pde6b(-) mice displayed 1) evidence of blindness at PND 49, with visual deficits detected at PND 35, 2) reduced GFAP mRNA expression in the visual cortex between PND 28 and PND 49, and 3) an increased ratio of vimentin:GFAP-labeled astrocytes at PND 49 with reduced GFAP cell body area. Together, these findings demonstrate that retinal degeneration modifies cellular and molecular indices of glial plasticity in a visual system with drastically reduced visual input. The functional consequences of these structural changes remain uncertain.

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