Gray Matter Volume in Adolescent Anxiety: An Impact of the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Val66Met Polymorphism?
Open accessAbstract
Objective Minimal research links anxiety disorders in adolescents to regional gray matter volume (GMV) abnormalities and their modulation by genetic factors. Prior research suggests that a brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BNDF) Val(66)Met polymorphism may modulate such brain morphometry profiles.Method Using voxel-based morphometry and magnetic resonance imaging, associations of BDNF and clinical anxiety with regional GMVs of anterior cingulate cortex, insula, amygdala, and hippocampus were examined in 39 affected (17 Met allele carriers, 22 Val/Val homozygotes) and 63 nonaffected adolescents (27 [corrected] Met allele carriers, 36 [corrected] Val/Val homozygotes).Results Amygdala and anterior hippocampal GMVs were significantly smaller in patients than in healthy comparison adolescents, with a reverse pattern for the insula. Post-hoc regression analyses indicated a specific contribution of social phobia to the GMV reductions in the amygdala and hippocampus. In addition, insula and dorsal-anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) GMVs were modulated by BDNF genotype. In both regions, and GMVs were larger in the Val/Val homozygote patients than in individuals carrying the Met allele.Conclusions These results implicate reduced GMV in the amygdala and hippocampus in pediatric anxiety, particularly social phobia. In addition, the data suggest that genetic factors may modulate differences in the insula and dorsal ACC.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Findings in the amygdala regions for anxious vs. non-anxious adolescents are less clear, with some studies reporting larger volumes in the right and left amygdala, specifically the basolateral amygdala, smaller volumes in the left amygdala, or no difference in amygdala volume.
“Findings in the amygdala regions for anxious vs. non-anxious adolescents are less clear, with some studies reporting larger volumes in the right and left amygdala, specifically the basolateral amygdala35,36, smaller volumes in the left amygdala31,37,38 or no difference in amygdala volume39.”
From Multimodal evidence for delayed threat extinction learning in adolescence and young adulthood (2019) · cites this paper as [31]
There is some evidence of similar structural abnormalities in ventral portions of the prefrontal cortex and the uncinate fasciculus for anxious youth.
“While the number of studies examining structural changes in anxious vs. non-anxious adolescents is low, there is some evidence of similar structural abnormalities in ventral portions of the prefrontal cortex and the uncinate fasciculus for anxious youth29–34.”
From Multimodal evidence for delayed threat extinction learning in adolescence and young adulthood (2019) · cites this paper as [31]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 44 · Cited by 103
- Authors
- Mueller, S. C., Aouidad, A., Gorodetsky, E., Goldman, D., Pine, D. S., & Ernst, M.
- Affiliations
- Ghent University (BE)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- National Institute of Mental Health (US)
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (US)
- Corresponding author
- Mueller, Sven C.
- Venue
- Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-02
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 184-195
- ISSN
- 0890-8567 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3570270
- OpenAlex
- W2049698882
- Cited by
- 103
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 11.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (Z99 MH999999)
- National Institute of Mental Health
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- adolescent anxiety, gray matter volume, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, BDNF Val66Met polymorphism, social anxiety disorder, amygdala, hippocampus, insula, anterior cingulate cortex, childhood anxiety disorders
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Anxiety Disorders, Brain, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Methionine, Organ Size, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Valine, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, Amino Acid Substitution, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Functional Neuroimaging
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
