Association of iron levels in hair with brain structures and functions in young adults

Hikaru Takeuchi; Yasuyuki Taki; Rui Nouchi; Ryoichi Yokoyama; Yuka Kotozaki; Seishu Nakagawa; Atsushi Sekiguchi; Kunio Iizuka; Yuki Yamamoto; Sugiko Hanawa; Tsuyoshi Araki; Carlos Makoto Miyauchi; Kohei Sakaki; Takayuki Nozawa; Shigeyuki Ikeda; Susumu Yokota; Magistro Daniele; Yuko Sassa; Ryuta Kawashima

doi:10.1016/j.jtemb.2019.126436

Association of iron levels in hair with brain structures and functions in young adults

J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2020 Mar:58:126436. doi: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2019.126436. Epub 2019 Nov 13.

Authors

Hikaru Takeuchi¹, Yasuyuki Taki², Rui Nouchi³, Ryoichi Yokoyama⁴, Yuka Kotozaki⁵, Seishu Nakagawa⁶, Atsushi Sekiguchi⁷, Kunio Iizuka⁸, Yuki Yamamoto⁹, Sugiko Hanawa⁹, Tsuyoshi Araki¹⁰, Carlos Makoto Miyauchi¹¹, Kohei Sakaki¹², Takayuki Nozawa¹³, Shigeyuki Ikeda¹⁴, Susumu Yokota¹⁵, Magistro Daniele¹⁶, Yuko Sassa¹⁵, Ryuta Kawashima¹⁷

Affiliations

¹ Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan. Electronic address: takehi@idac.tohoku.ac.jp.
² Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan; Division of Medical Neuroimaging Analysis, Department of Community Medical Supports, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
³ Creative Interdisciplinary Research Division, Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan; Human and Social Response Research Division, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan; Department of Advanced Brain Science, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
⁴ School of Medicine, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan.
⁵ Division of Clinical research, Medical-Industry Translational Research Center, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan.
⁶ Department of Human　Brain　Science, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan; Division of Psychiatry, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Sendai, Japan.
⁷ Division of Medical Neuroimaging Analysis, Department of Community Medical Supports, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan; Department of Behavioral Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
⁹ Department of Human　Brain　Science, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
¹⁰ ADVANTAGE Risk Management Co., Ltd., Japan.
¹¹ Department of Language Sciences, Graduate School of Humanities, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan.
¹² Department of Advanced Brain Science, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
¹³ Research Center for the Earth Inclusive Sensing Empathizing with Silent Voices, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁴ Department of Ubiquitous Sensing, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
¹⁵ Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
¹⁶ Department of Sport Science, School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
¹⁷ Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan; Department of Advanced Brain Science, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan; Department of Human　Brain　Science, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.

PMID: 31760327
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2019.126436

Abstract

Background: Iron plays a critical role in normal brain functions and development, but it has also been known to have adverse neurological effects.

Methods: Here, we investigated the associations of iron levels in hair with regional gray matter volume (rGMV), regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), and cognitive differences in a study cohort of 590 healthy young adults.

Results: Our findings showed that high iron levels were associated with lower rGMV in areas including the hippocampus, lower rCBF in the anterior and posterior parts of the brain, greater FA in areas including the part of the splenium of the corpus callosum, lower MD in the overlapping area including the splenium of the corpus callosum, as well as greater MD in the left hippocampus and areas including the frontal lobe.

Conclusion: These results are compatible with the notion that iron plays diverse roles in neural mechanisms in healthy young adults.

Keywords: Diffusion tensor imaging; Hair minerals; Hippocampus; Iron; Perfusion; Regional gray matter volume.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Anisotropy
Brain / metabolism*
Cerebrovascular Circulation
Diffusion
Female
Gray Matter / anatomy & histology
Hair / metabolism*
Humans
Iron / metabolism*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Regression Analysis
White Matter / anatomy & histology
Young Adult

Substances

Iron