Brain Imaging of Childhood Onset Psychiatric Disorders, Endocrine Disorders and Healthy Volunteers

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) unlike X-rays and CT-scans does not use radiation to create a picture. MRI use as the name implies, magnetism to create pictures with excellent anatomical resolution. Functional MRIs are diagnostic tests that allow doctors to not only view anatomy, but physiology and function. It is for these reasons that MRIs are excellent methods for studying the brain. In this study, researchers will use MRI to assess brain anatomy and function in X and Y chromosome variation, healthy volunteers, and patients with a variety of childhood onset psychiatric disorders. The disorders include attention deficit disorder, autism, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, childhood-onset schizophrenia, dyslexia, obsessive compulsive disorder, Sydenham's chorea, and Tourette's syndrome. Results of the MRIs showing the anatomy of the brain and brain function will be compared across age, sex (gender), and diagnostic groups. Correlations between brain and behavioral measures will be examined for normal and clinical populations.... Study Description: This natural history protocol will have participants come to the NIH for brain imaging, psychological/psychiatric testing, and genetic characterization. Our core hypotheses are that many of the most severe neuropsychiatric disorders of childhood onset are associated with deviations from the path of normal brain development, the neuroanatomical substrates of which can be detected by magnetic resonance imaging. Objectives: Primary Objectives: The long-term objectives of the protocol are to (1) map the neuroanatomic and neurophysiological trajectories of brain development; and (2) discern the influences, for good or ill, on those trajectories from demographic clinical, genetic, and environmental factors. Approximately half of the participants in our sample are typically developing. Clinical populations in our sample include participants with a variety of brain-based disorders, such as Autism, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Childhood Onset Schizophrenia, Dyslexia, Sydenham s Chorea, and Tourette s Syndrome. Secondary Objectives: To characterize the relationships among measures of behavior and cognition as well as amongst multimodal measures of brain organization. Endpoints: Primary Endpoint: T1-weighted structural neuroimaging data which enable us to characterize how a range of anatomical brain phenotypes vary as a function of age, sex, behavioral/cognitive traits, diagnostic status and genotype. Secondary Endpoints: Data analyses also consider how these factors relate to other outcomes of interest including; gene expression levels, functional metrics from in vivo neuroimaging, and questionnaire/interview-based assessment of clinical features.