It is a well-known fact that COVID-19, the virus that took the world by storm in 2020, had a significantly destructive physical impact on those who contracted it. However, new research suggests that the coronavirus also had physical effects on individuals, specifically teenagers, who quarantined and successfully avoided infection altogether.
The study that produced much of the data responsible for the findings of this research was conducted by three researchers from the University of Washington. The initial objective of their research was to examine the changes in brain structure over the normal adolescence period. The researchers gathered MRI data from adolescents aged 9, 11, 13, 15, and 17 in 2018, expecting to gather the group and a second data set in two years. However, due to the pandemic, the participants were unable to return for the second MRI scan in 2020, so they returned a year later, providing the researchers with an unprecedented opportunity to dive into research on how the COVID quarantines effected brain development in adolescents.
The thickness of the cerebral cortex, the brain’s outer layer of tissue which controls functions such as reasoning and decision-making, naturally thins as we age. The researchers used MRIs to measure the difference in the density of the cerebral cortex in each of the participants in order to examine the effects of the COVID quarantine on the adolescent brain; more specifically, they sought to discover the aging effects of this isolation on the teens. Their research found that all subjects experienced accelerated cerebral cortex thinning, with females experiencing more widespread aging while males showed thinning in only two regions. Additionally, the female brain showed an average age acceleration about 4.2 years older than their age while male acceleration averaged at about 1.2 years older. The majority of the thinning in females’ brains occurred in areas of the brain that contribute to social cognition, an area of intelligence that was highly impacted during the pandemic due to the lack of social interaction during quarantine. Male participants’ brains proved to be affected most prominently in areas involved with face processing.
The synaptic connections made when teenagers interact with one another were exactly what was missing during this time of lockdown and isolation. During adolescence, the brain is still forming new neural pathways and developing, and the quarantine teens experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic prevented them from practicing the skills they needed to develop the synaptic connections that allow them to interact with and relate to peers. This lack of social activity is thought to be one of the reasons for the premature thinning of the brain in these young participants. The concept of neural and synaptic pathways connects to what we’ve learned in AP Bio this year about how neurons function. We know that the dendrites are the part of the neuron that receive stimuli, and when those dendrites receive highly stressful stimuli (such as the isolation and loneliness experienced as a result of a lack of social interaction), the brain’s development is thought to shift toward premature maturation in order to protect the synapses related to emotion, learning, and memory. This development can protect the individual and their brain in the moment; however, the period of prolonged exposure to stressful stimuli can later lead to mental health effects such as anxiety and depression.
Leave a Reply