Genetic influences on prefrontal activation during a verbal fluency task in adults: A twin study based on multichannel near-infrared spectroscopy

• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.03.052
• Publication Date: 2013-04-01T23:03:39Z
• Authors: Eisuke Sakakibara; Ryu Takizawa; Yukika Nishimura; Shingo Kawasaki; Yoshihiro Satomura; Akihide Kinoshita; Shinsuke Koike; Kohei Marumo; Masaru Kinou; Mamoru Tochigi; Nao Nishida; Katsushi Tokunaga; Satoshi Eguchi; Syudo Yamasaki; Tatsunobu Natsubori; Norichika Iwashiro; Hideyuki Inoue; Yosuke Takano; Kunio Takei; Motomu Suga; Hidenori Yamasue; Junko Matsubayashi; Kenji Kohata; Chie Shimojo; Shiho Okuhata; Toshiaki Kono; Hitoshi Kuwabara; Ayaka Ishii-Takah...; Yuki Kawakubo; Kiyoto Kasai
• Keywords: Adult; Intelligence Tests; Male; Brain Diseases; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; Verbal Behavior; Functional Neuroimaging; Mental Disorders; Prefrontal Cortex; Genetics, Behavioral; Twins, Monozygotic; Hemoglobins; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Socioeconomic Factors; Twins, Dizygotic; Educational Status; Humans; Female; Gene-Environment Interaction; Algorithms; Psychomotor Performance

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) studies have reported that prefrontal hemodynamic dysfunction during executive function tasks may be a promising biomarker of psychiatric disorders, because its portability and noninvasiveness allow easy measurements in clinical settings. Here, we investigated the degree to which prefrontal NIRS signals are genetically determined. Using a 52-channel NIRS system, we monitored the oxy-hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) signal changes in 38 adult pairs of right-handed monozygotic (MZ) twins and 13 pairs of same-sex right-handed dizygotic (DZ) twins during a letter version of the verbal fluency task. Heritability was estimated based on a classical twin paradigm using structured equation modeling. Significant genetic influences were estimated in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and left frontal pole. The degrees of heritability were 66% and 75% in the variances, respectively. This implies that the prefrontal hemodynamic dysfunction observed during an executive function task measured by NIRS may be an efficient endophenotype for large-scale imaging genetic studies in psychiatric disorders.