Carriage of Supernumerary Sex Chromosomes Decreases the Volume and Alters the Shape of Limbic Structures.

Abstract

Sex chromosome aneuploidy (SCA) enhances risk for several psychiatric disorders associated with the limbic system, including mood and autism spectrum disorders. These patients provide a powerful genetics-first model for understanding the biological basis of psychopathology. Additionally, these disorders are frequently sex-biased in prevalence, further suggesting an etiological role for sex chromosomes. To clarify how limbic anatomy varies across sex and sex chromosome complement, we characterized amygdala and hippocampus structure in a uniquely large sample of patients carrying supernumerary sex chromosomes (n = 132) and typically developing controls (n=166). After correction for sex-differences in brain size, karyotypically normal males (XY) and females (XX) did not differ in volume or shape of either structure. In contrast, all SCAs were associated with lowered amygdala volume relative to gonadally-matched controls. This effect was robust to three different methods for total brain volume correction, including an allometric analysis that derived normative scaling rules for these structures in a separate, typically developing population (n = 79). Hippocampal volume was insensitive to SCA after correction for total brain volume. However, surface-based analysis revealed that SCA, regardless of specific karyotype, was consistently associated with a spatially specific pattern of shape change in both amygdala and hippocampus. In particular, SCA was accompanied by contraction around the basomedial nucleus of the amygdala and an area within the hippocampal surface that cuts across hippocampal subfields. These results demonstrate the power of SCA as a model to understand how copy number variation can precipitate changes in brain systems relevant to psychiatric disease.