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Heritability of Bipolar EEG Spectra in a Large Sib-pair Population

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Abstract

The additive genetic heritability of both monopolar and bipolar EEG spectral power in a sample of 305 non-twin sibships comprising 690 individuals (age range 7–65) was estimated in order to investigate their regional variation. The heritabilities of the bipolar EEG spectral power ranged from 0.10 to 0.63 in 38 electrode-pairs, and those of monopolar power ranged from 0.23 to 0.68 in 19 electrodes in six frequency bands from theta to high beta. The bipolar data shows significantly greater topographic variation compared to that of the monopolar data. The mean of bivariate genetic correlations were consistently lower for the bipolar data and the coefficients of variation consistently higher when compared to those of the monopolar data for each of the frequency bands. The results from the bipolar derivations are in greater accord with genetic findings in brain anatomy and show the possibility of multiple genetic sources for the phenotypic variability of EEG activity.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our colleagues in the Neurodynamics Lab for their help in preparation of the data, particularly Arthur Stimus and Chamion Thomas. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers whose insightful comments led us to expand our horizons in the course of writing this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neurodynamics Laboratory, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Yongqiang Tang, David B. Chorlian, Madhavi Rangaswamy, Bernice Porjesz & Henri Begleiter

  2. Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Sean O’Connor

  3. Howard University, Washington, DC, USA

    Robert Taylor

  4. Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    John Rohrbaugh

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  1. Yongqiang Tang
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  2. David B. Chorlian
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  3. Madhavi Rangaswamy
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  6. John Rohrbaugh
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  7. Bernice Porjesz
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  8. Henri Begleiter
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David B. Chorlian.

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We would like to dedicate this paper to the memory of Henri Begleiter, who initiated its writing, and whose death during its preparation only inspired us to continue to follow the high scientific standards which his work exemplified.

Edited by Danielle Posthuma

This work was supported by NIAAA Investigator-Initiated Interactive Research Project Grant (IRPG): AA 12560 at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, AA 12555 at Indiana University School of Medicine, grant AA 12557 at Washington University School of Medicine, and AA 12553 at Howard University.

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Tang, Y., Chorlian, D.B., Rangaswamy, M. et al. Heritability of Bipolar EEG Spectra in a Large Sib-pair Population. Behav Genet 37, 302–313 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-006-9133-0

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