Shared genetic variance between obesity and white matter integrity in Mexican Americans

Authors

Elena A. Spieker
Peter Kochunov
Laura M. Rowland
Emma Sprooten
Anderson M. Winkler, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Rene L. Olvera
Laura Almasy, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Ravi Duggirala, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Peter T. Fox
John Blangero, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
David C. Glahn
Joanne E. Curran, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2015

Abstract

Obesity is a chronic metabolic disorder that may also lead to reduced white matter integrity, potentially due to shared genetic risk factors. Genetic correlation analyses were conducted in a large cohort of Mexican American families in San Antonio (N = 761, 58% females, ages 18–81 years; 41.3 ± 14.5) from the Genetics of Brain Structure and Function Study. Shared genetic variance was calculated between measures of adiposity [(body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) and waist circumference (WC; in)] and whole-brain and regional measurements of cerebral white matter integrity (fractional anisotropy). Whole-brain average and regional fractional anisotropy values for 10 major white matter tracts were calculated from high angular resolution diffusion tensor imaging data (DTI; 1.7 × 1.7 × 3 mm; 55 directions). Additive genetic factors explained intersubject variance in BMI (heritability, h2 = 0.58), WC (h2 = 0.57), and FA (h2 = 0.49). FA shared significant portions of genetic variance with BMI in the genu (ρG = −0.25), body (ρG = −0.30), and splenium (ρG = −0.26) of the corpus callosum, internal capsule (ρG = −0.29), and thalamic radiation (ρG = −0.31) (all p's = 0.043). The strongest evidence of shared variance was between BMI/WC and FA in the superior fronto-occipital fasciculus (ρG = −0.39, p = 0.020; ρG = −0.39, p = 0.030), which highlights region-specific variation in neural correlates of obesity. This may suggest that increase in obesity and reduced white matter integrity share common genetic risk factors.

Comments

Copyright © 2015 Spieker, Kochunov, Rowland, Sprooten, Winkler, Olvera, Almasy, Duggirala, Fox, Blangero, Glahn and Curran.

Recommended Citation

Spieker, E. A., Kochunov, P., Rowland, L. M., Sprooten, E., Winkler, A. M., Olvera, R. L., Almasy, L., Duggirala, R., Fox, P. T., Blangero, J., Glahn, D. C., & Curran, J. E. (2015). Shared genetic variance between obesity and white matter integrity in Mexican Americans. Frontiers in genetics, 6, 26. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2015.00026

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

Frontiers in Genetics

DOI

10.3389/fgene.2015.00026

Academic Level

faculty

Mentor/PI Department

Office of Human Genetics