Brain scans show adolescents with more psychiatric symptoms have undergone less “pruning”, when unneeded synaptic connections between neurons disappear
assessed at 14, where there was also information about various psychiatric symptoms.
Participants or their parents completed questionnaires to produce scores for symptoms of mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders and phobias. They were also scored for ADHD and assessed for symptoms of autism traits.People who had the highest scores for these conditions, indicating stronger symptoms, were more likely to have greater density of tissue in the prefrontal cortex, an outer region of the brain at the front of the head.
Pruning is a mysterious process that starts in young childhood, although increases dramatically in adolescence. It is thought to happen because synapses – connections between brain cells – that aren’t used very much are lost. “As you’re learning and your brain is getting more efficient, you get rid of the extra synapses you don’t want,” says Sahakian.
It wasn’t possible to quantify the pruning delay or the difference in tissue density in this study, nor is it known whether those who had a greater density of tissue in the prefrontal cortex at this stage catch up with the rest of the population, at least to some extent, later, says Sahakian.
A lack of pruning has previously been proposed as a cause of schizophrenia, ADHD and autism, but not other conditions.at King’s College London, who has been involved in genetic studies that support the idea of a p factor, says the new proposed explanation is plausible as a contributor, but may not be the whole story. “You are looking for something that’s a general mechanism,” he says.
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