Age-dependent alterations in the coordinated development of subcortical regions in adolescents with social anxiety disorder

Abstract

Abstract Subcortical brain regions play essential roles in the onset of social anxiety disorder (SAD). While adolescence is the peak period of SAD, the relationships between abnormal development of the subcortical regions during this period and SAD are still unclear. This study investigated the age-dependent alterations in structural co-variance among subcortical regions and between subcortical and cortical regions, aiming to reflect aberrant coordination during development in adolescents with SAD. High-resolution T1-weighted images were obtained from 76 adolescents with SAD and 67 healthy controls (HC), ranging from 11.0 to 17.9 years. We found that the SAD group exhibited significantly enhanced structural co-variance among key striatum regions (putamen and caudate). While the co-variance decreased with age in healthy adolescents, the co-variance in SAD adolescents stayed high, leading to more apparent abnormalities in middle adolescence. Moreover, the striatum’s mean structural co-variance with cortical regions decreased with age in HC but increased with age in SAD. The age-dependence of the abnormal coordination indicates atypical developmental trajectories of the striatum and its balance with the cortical regions in adolescents with SAD.