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The Adolescent Brain > Lecture 5 > Flashcards

Lecture 5 Flashcards

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1
Q

What are some characteristics of puberty?

A
  • Mood swings
  • Self-concept
  • Friendships
  • Love and sex
  • Risk taking
  • Physical changes
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2
Q

Do animals experience puberty?

A

Yes, all animals go through puberty, but it only lasts a couple of days for them.

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3
Q

Does puberty start earlier for boys and girls?

A

Yes, puberty starts earlier in girls than in boys.

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4
Q

When does puberty start and adolescence end?

A

Puberty starts with hormonal changes and adolescence ends in a cultural defined period (for example, being legally accountable at 21).

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5
Q

What is the difference between puberty and adolescence?

A

The pure physical changes indicates both puberty and adolescence, but the end of adolescence if defined by culture and the end of puberty is not.

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6
Q

What are two major hormones that are blamed for the typical pubertal characteristics?

A

Testosterone and estradiol

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7
Q

What are testosterone and estradiol also called and do the names make sense?

A

Testosterone is often called the male hormone and estradiol the female hormone. Estradiol occurs mostly in females and testosterone occurs mostly in males, but, both sexes have both hormones.

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8
Q

What are the definitions of sex, gender identity, gendered expectations and sexual orientation?

A
  • Sex = biological basis of male and female differences
  • Gender identity = how you identify, so men and women
  • Gendered expectations = social norms
  • Sexual orientation = who you are attracted to
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9
Q

How do we measure puberty and what do we have to take into account?

A

Questionnaires, taking into account:

  • Pubertal status (where you are, scale 1-4)
  • Pubertal timing (in contrast with peers)
  • Pubertal tempo (how fast is the development going?)
  • Hormone levels
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10
Q

Why is it really important to take development into account?

A

Because the hormone levels vary very much at different ages.

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11
Q

What is mini puberty? And what happens after?

A

The peak in hormones right after birth. After this the hormone levels go down again and there are little differences between boys and girls. This changes with the onset of puberty.

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12
Q

How do we know that there is a hormone peak before birth?

A

In humans we cannot directly measure the hormonal levels prenatally. The peak before birth is mostly from animal studies or indirect research.

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13
Q

What is the phenomenon called where hormone levels go down with age?

A

In women this is called the menopause and in men this is called the penopause.

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14
Q

How do the hormone levels vary in women and in men?

A

In women there is a monthly fluctuation of ebb and flow. In men the hormone levels also fluctuate, but on a daily level. The hormone levels in men change about 30-40% during the day.

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15
Q

How does puberty start?

A

A KNDy neuron elicits three hormones, which leads to more activity of the hypothalamus, this leads to more secretion of GnRH which causes the pituitary gland to secrete FSH and LH, in women this causes the ovary to secrete estrogen, in men this causes the testis to secrete testosterone.

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16
Q

What does the abbreviatin HPG axis stand for?

A

Hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis

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17
Q

Gonadarche

A

The hormonal change that starts at puberty. The age differs somewhat between individuals, but the order is quite similar.

Gonadarche triggers a whole lot of changes in boys as well as girls. There are also individual differences with the onset age within the sexes.

It is hard to compare gonadarche in males and females because of the differences.

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18
Q

Gonadarche in females

A

It mostly starts with a growth spurt, followed by breast enlargement, axillary hair, pubic hair and menarche (first period).

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19
Q

Gonadarche in males

A

It mostly starts with the growth of the testis, followed by axillary and facial hair, pubic hair, growth of the penis and a growth spurt.

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20
Q

How can you measure puberty/gonadarche?

A

Physical development (physician or self/parent report).

  • These are all indirect measures of the changes of puberty.

Hormone levels (blood, urine, or saliva).

21
Q

What are the limitations in the pubertal development scale?

A
  • Subjectivity in how adolescents perceive themselves and how they are perceived by others.
  • Susceptible to significant variation between assessors.
  • Influenced by inter-individual variation, body habitus, and social acceptability.
22
Q

What are the limitations for hormone measures?

A
  • Diurnal variation and cyclical patterns.
  • Influenced by environmental and internal stressors.
  • There is no receptor density and sensitivity concordance between peripheral hormone measurements.
  • Concentrations of hormones in the local milieu of targeted brain regions are unknown.
23
Q

Where do sex hormones come from?

A

Cholesterol comes from your diet, in the end this is converted to sex hormones.

Cholesterol + DHEAS => Testosterone => Estradiol

24
Q

True or false: Oestrogen also acts in the male brain

A

True

25
Q

What are the following abbreviations? PR, ER and AR

A

PR = Progesteron Receptor
ER = Estrogen Receptor
AR = Androgen Receptor

26
Q

What hormone cascade causes female typical behaviours?

A

The ovary secretes Progesterone => PR in the brain.

The ovary secretes Testosterone, which becomes Estrogen due to Aromatase => ERalfa and ERbeta in the brain.

27
Q

What hormone cascade causes male typical behaviours?

A

In the testis Testosterone is secreted which, due to the process of Aromatase in the brain becomes AR and Estrogen, Estrogen than becomes ERalfa and ERbeta in the brain.

28
Q

When is the onset of adrenarche, gonadarche and puberty?

A

Adrenarche comes before gonadarche and puberty. Gonadarche and puberty are at the same time.

Some literature says that adrenarche precedes puberty and other call adrenarche part of puberty because during adrenarche the hormones are secreted that are responsible for the first physical changes.

29
Q

Adrenarche

A

It often starts around the age of 7, so very early. It is not clear how the process is started. Adrenarche triggers the DHEA levels. The timing is similar for boys and girls but not for all mammals.

30
Q

What are the changes in the body during adrenarche?

A
  • Pubic an axillary hair development
  • Body odour
  • Oily skin and hair
  • Acne
  • Skeletal maturation
31
Q

What is the relationship between adrenarche and gonadarche?

A

There is no relationship. Adrenarche and gonadarche are not associated, so an earlier onset in adrenarche is not predictive of gonadarche.

32
Q

When do a lot of mental disorders start?

A

In puberty, but why is not exactly known.

33
Q

Gunnar et al. (2009) on a stress test

A

They did a study in which they gave individuals a stress test, they had to give a talk about a topic they just got in front of a jury.

After the age of 13 in girls and 14 in boys the cortisol levels after this stress test increases.

34
Q

What are the lines of research on pubertal effects on the brain?

A
  1. Animal literature showing effects of pubertal hormones on brain structure and behaviour.
  2. Heightened neural activity in puberty.
  3. Pubertal hormones are related to brain growth.
  4. Apparent differences in brain maturation between males and females.
  5. Sex-specific differences in mental health pathology.

How much evidence is there for pubertal effects on brain development?

35
Q

Animal literature showing effects of pubertal hormones on brain structure and behaviour

A
  • There are organizational hormone effects, which can change the brain structure. This will last longer and usually happens during a sensitive period, but also close after this period.
  • Activational hormone effects on the other hand are, for example, a shot of testosterone. Only if you give this shot, the behaviour will change.
36
Q

Why do we use animal literature?

A

Because it is unethical and unpractical to conduct experimental manipulations.

37
Q

Why is the translation of knowledge from animal research findings on sex steroid effects on the brain and behaviour to humans limited?

A
  • Species differences: There are extensive differences both in brain structure, brain function, hormonal systems and behaviour between rats and humans (e.g., frontal cortex is smooth in rats).
  • Different life span and different development in puberty, adolescence is prolonged in humans and limited in animals.
  • Humans have more complex social behaviour than animals and have a more complex culture.
  • Complexity of Human Behaviour: In humans, hormonal changes are accompanied by psychosocial and cultural changes.
  • Ethical and Practical Constraints: It is unethical to conduct experimental manipulations in humans that require dissections, genetic manipulate and sacrificing animals.
  • Variability in Human Populations: Human populations are genetically and environmentally diverse. While animal studies have small sample sizes with (often) genetically similar rodents.
38
Q

What is the dual systems model in heightened neural activity in puberty?

A

Cognitive control system and socioemotional, incentive-processing system.

This model shows a heightened socioemotional, incentive processing system during adolescence.

39
Q

Heightened neural activity in puberty

A

The nucleus accumbens activity, that is sensitive to the processing of rewards, is more active in adolescence than in children or adults. Testosterone moderated this effect. Higher levels of testosterone will show an increased level of activity in the nucleus accumbens at this age.

40
Q

Pubertal hormones are related to brain growth

A

Testosterone is related to the development of the nucleus accumbens in boys but not in girls.

The structure of the nucleus accumbens for both boys and girls is related to a number of pubertal measures.

There is also a decrease found in brain volume between 0 and 15 years. Beginning at the age of 15, the volume starts to grow again. Moreover, an increase is found in connectivity and impulse control. However, it is important to know that brain changes during puberty is not necessarily linked to hormonal changes of puberty.

41
Q

True or false: if you see changes in puberty this means that this is related to hormonal changes.

A

False. There are a lot of factors that

42
Q

Apparent differences in brain maturation between males and females.

A
  • There is usually a 2 year delay in brain development in boys compared to girls.
  • The growth spurt starts earlier for girls than for boys.
  • The brain volume of boys is about 10% larger.
43
Q

Sex-specific differences in mental health pathology.

A

The conditions with a higher prevalence in males usually have an earlier onset (7 or 9-years old) than the conditions with a higher prevalence in females (usually during puberty).

44
Q

A critical review of the empirical literature on the relation between anxiety and puberty

A
  • The paper says that an earlier pubertal timing shows a larger chance of showing anxiety related symptoms, but it is not clear what causes what.
  • Earlier pubertal timing <= ? => Anxiety
  • It is unclear whether it is directly related to hormones.
  • Highly understudied.
  • Role of adrenarche understudied (DHEA).
45
Q

DHEA and mental health

A

Earlier timing of adrenarche might be triggered by stressful family environments. It might also be genetically driven. It might cause changes in the brain structure and function.

46
Q

Gender expectations and mental health issues

A

Gender expectations also play a role in the development of mental health issues. If boys and girls would have the same experience, the occurrence of mental health issues would change. The environmental experiences also causes these differences.

They used a prediction model to relate brain structure to biological sex and to gender expectations. They found that the brain specific regions were more related to gender expectations than for biological sexes.

47
Q

Gender and cardiovascular risk factors

A

On a scale of masculinity and femininity, most men identify themselves as highly masculine. Women don’t necessarily identify themselves strongly as feminine.

Gender score was more associated with the presence of cardiovascular risk factors than biological sex itself. These gender expectations thus might trigger health problems.

48
Q

Summary

A
  • Puberty includes gonadarche.
  • The HPG axis is involved in gonadarche.
  • The DHEA-S secretion by the adrenal glands is involved in adrenarche.
  • Both boys and girls have testosterone and oestradiol.
  • There is considerable variation in the onset and tempo of pubertal changes.
  • The HPA axis (stress responsivity) responds differently in puberty.
  • Animal models on sex hormone effects on the brain are, to a limited extent, translatable to humans.
  • In humans there is indirect evidence for a relation between puberty and brain development.
  • Across development, brain functioning is remarkably similar between males and females, yet some differences are present.
  • Both sex and gender related factors may affect brain growth and the development of mental health problems.
  • Adrenarche is associated with mental health problems.

The Adolescent Brain (7 decks)

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