The effects of epigenetic age and its acceleration on surface area, cortical thickness, and volume in young adults

DNA methylation age has been used in recent studies as an epigenetic marker of accelerated cellular aging, whose contribution to the brain structural changes was lately acknowledged. We aimed to characterize the association of epigenetic age (i.e. estimated DNA methylation age) and its acceleration...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. 1991) N.Y. 1991), 2022-12, Vol.32 (24), p.5654-5663
Main Authors: Cheong, Yongjeon, Nishitani, Shota, Yu, Jinyoung, Habata, Kaie, Kamiya, Taku, Shiotsu, Daichi, Omori, Ichiro M, Okazawa, Hidehiko, Tomoda, Akemi, Kosaka, Hirotaka, Jung, Minyoung
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acceleration
Aging - genetics
Aging - pathology
DNA Methylation
Epigenesis, Genetic
Epigenomics
Humans
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:DNA methylation age has been used in recent studies as an epigenetic marker of accelerated cellular aging, whose contribution to the brain structural changes was lately acknowledged. We aimed to characterize the association of epigenetic age (i.e. estimated DNA methylation age) and its acceleration with surface area, cortical thickness, and volume in healthy young adults. Using the multi-tissue method (Horvath S. DNA methylation age of human tissues and cell types. 2013. Genome Biol 14), epigenetic age was computed with saliva sample. Epigenetic age acceleration was derived from residuals after adjusting epigenetic age for chronological age. Multiple regression models were computed for 148 brain regions for surface area, cortical thickness, and volume using epigenetic age or accelerated epigenetic age as a predictor and controlling for sex. Epigenetic age was associated with surface area reduction of the left insula. It was also associated with cortical thinning and volume reduction in multiple regions, with prominent changes of cortical thickness in the left temporal regions and of volume in the bilateral orbital gyri. Finally, accelerated epigenetic age was negatively associated with right cuneus gyrus volume. Our findings suggest that understanding the mechanisms of epigenetic age acceleration in young individuals may yield valuable insights into the relationship between epigenetic aging and the cortical change and on the early development of neurocognitive pathology among young adults.
ISSN:1047-3211
1460-2199
DOI:10.1093/cercor/bhac043