Characterizing developmental changes in frontostriatal circuitry is critical to understanding adolescent development and can clarify neurobiological mechanisms underlying increased reward sensitivity and risk-taking and the emergence of psychopathology during this period. However, the role of striatal neurobiology in the development of frontostriatal circuitry through human adolescence remains largely unknown. We examined background connectivity during a reward-guided decision-making task (“reward-state”), in addition to resting-state, and assessed the association between age-related changes in frontostriatal connectivity and age-related changes in reward learning and risk-taking through adolescence. Further, we examined the contribution of dopaminergic processes to changes in frontostriatal circuitry and decision-making using MR-based assessments of striatal tissue-iron as a correlate of dopamine-related neurobiology. Connectivity between the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and ventral anterior cingulate, subgenual cingulate, and orbitofrontal cortices decreased through adolescence into adulthood, and decreases in reward-state connectivity were associated with improvements reward-guided decision-making as well as with decreases in risk-taking. Finally, NAcc tissue-iron mediated age-related changes and was associated with variability in connectivity, and developmental increases in NAcc R2’ corresponded with developmental decreases in connectivity. Our results provide evidence that dopamine-related striatal properties contribute to the specialization of frontostriatal circuitry, potentially underlying changes in risk-taking and reward sensitivity into adulthood.

表征额纹状体回路的发育变化对于理解青少年的发育至关重要，并且可以阐明这一时期奖励敏感性和冒险性增加以及精神病理学出现的神经生物学机制。然而，纹状体神经生物学在人类青春期额纹状体回路发育中的作用仍然很大程度上未知。除了静息状态之外，我们还检查了奖励引导决策任务（“奖励状态”）期间的背景连接，并评估了额纹状体连接的年龄相关变化与奖励学习和风险的年龄相关变化之间的关联- 度过青春期。此外，我们使用基于 MR 的纹状体组织铁评估作为多巴胺相关神经生物学的相关性，研究了多巴胺能过程对额纹状体回路变化和决策的贡献。从青春期到成年期，伏隔核（NAcc）与腹侧前扣带皮层、膝下扣带皮层和眶额皮质之间的连接性下降，奖励状态连接性的下降与奖励引导决策的改善以及风险的降低有关。服用。最后，NAcc 组织铁介导与年龄相关的变化，并与连通性的变异性相关，并且 NAcc R2' 的发育增加与连通性的发育减少相对应。我们的研究结果提供了证据，表明与多巴胺相关的纹状体特性有助于额纹状体回路的专业化，这可能是成年期冒险和奖励敏感性的潜在变化。