Functional Impact Score of Mitochondrial Variants and Its Relationship With Functional Connectivity of the Brain: Potential Origins of Premature Aging in Young Adulthood.
Abstract
Alterations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have been associated with worse cognitive abilities in older adults and premature epigenetic aging in young adulthood. However, it is not clear how mitochondrial dysfunction affects brain function in young adulthood and whether cognition-related networks might be most affected. We tested whether mtDNA functional impact (FI) score might map onto specific patterns of between-network functional connectivity in young adults from the European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC). We also tested whether these relationships might be mediated by accelerated epigenetic aging, calculated using Horvath's epigenetic clock, CheekAge clock, and AltumAge clock. General connectivity method was used as a reliable marker of individual differences in brain function. We showed that a greater mtDNA FI score was associated with lower connectivity between the dorsal attention and language networks (beta = -0.41, p = 0.0007, AdjR
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Research summary
A greater mitochondrial DNA functional impact score is associated with lower connectivity between specific brain networks in young adults. This paper is relevant as it explores the relationship between mitochondrial dysfunction and brain connectivity, potentially linking these factors to premature aging, which addresses underlying mechanisms of aging rather than merely treating symptoms.
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