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Pediatrics

Inflammatory agents partially explain associations between cortical thickness, surface area, and body mass in adolescents and young adulthood

International Journal of Obesity volume 44, pages 1487–1496 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives

Excessive body mass index (BMI) has been linked to a low-grade chronic inflammation state. Unhealthy BMI has also been related to neuroanatomical changes in adults. Research in adolescents is relatively limited and has produced conflicting results. This study aims to address the relationship between BMI and adolescents’ brain structure as well as to test the role that inflammatory adipose-related agents might have over this putative link.

Methods

We studied structural MRI and serum levels of interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), C-reactive protein and fibrinogen in 65 adolescents (aged 12–21 years). Relationships between BMI, cortical thickness and surface area were tested with a vertex-wise analysis. Subsequently, we used backward multiple linear regression models to explore the influence of inflammatory parameters in each brain-altered area.

Results

We found a negative association between cortical thickness and BMI in the left lateral occipital cortex (LOC) and the right precentral gyrus as well as a positive relationship between surface area and BMI in the left rostral middle frontal gyrus and the right superior frontal gyrus. In addition, we found that higher fibrinogen serum concentrations were related to thinning within the left LOC (β = −0.45, p < 0.001), while higher serum levels of TNF-α were associated to a greater surface area in the right superior frontal gyrus (β = 0.32, p = 0.045). Besides, we have also identified a trend that negatively correlates the cortical thickness of the left fusiform gyrus with the increases in BMI. It was also associated to fibrinogen (β = −0.33, p = 0.035).

Conclusions

These results suggest that adolescents’ body mass increases are related with brain abnormalities in areas that could play a relevant role in some aspects of feeding behavior. Likewise, we have evidenced that these cortical changes were partially explained by inflammatory agents such as fibrinogen and TNF-α.

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Fig. 1: Relationship between BMI and brain structure in adolescents.
Fig. 2: Correlations between BMI and brain structure in adolescents.
Fig. 3: Association between inflammatory biomarkers and brain metrics BMI-related.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all participants in the study without whose support the work would not have been possible.

Funding

This work was supported by grants from MINECO to MAJ (PSI2017-86536-C2-1-R) and MG (PSI2017-86536-C2-2-R) and from the Generalitat de Catalunya to Xavier Prats-Soteras (FI-DGR 2017).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament de Psicologia Clínica i Psicobiologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    X. Prats-Soteras, M. A. Jurado, J. Ottino-González & X. Caldú

  2. Institut de Neurociències, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    X. Prats-Soteras, M. A. Jurado, J. Ottino-González, B. Segura & X. Caldú

  3. Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain

    X. Prats-Soteras, M. A. Jurado, J. Ottino-González & X. Caldú

  4. Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    I. García-García

  5. Departament de Medicina, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    B. Segura

  6. Pediatric Endocrinology Unit, Hospital de Terrassa, Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain

    C. Sánchez-Garre & N. Miró

  7. Brain, Cognition and Behavior Clinical Research Group, Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain

    C. Sánchez-Garre, N. Miró, C. Tor, M. Sender-Palacios & M. Garolera

  8. CAP Terrassa Nord, Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain

    C. Tor & M. Sender-Palacios

  9. Unitat de Neuropsicologia, Hospital de Terrassa, Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain

    M. Garolera

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Contributions

XPS, MAJ, JOG, IGG, BS, XC, and MG contributed to study design and conception, analyses and results interpretation. XPS, JOG, IGG, CSG, NM, CT, and MSP participated in data acquisition. In addition, all authors critically revisited the work, approved its final version for publishing, and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of such work.

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Correspondence to M. A. Jurado.

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Prats-Soteras, X., Jurado, M.A., Ottino-González, J. et al. Inflammatory agents partially explain associations between cortical thickness, surface area, and body mass in adolescents and young adulthood. Int J Obes 44, 1487–1496 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-020-0582-y

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