The thalamus is composed of multiple nuclei densely connected with the cortex in an organized manner, forming parallel thalamocortical networks critical to sensory, motor, and cognitive functioning. Thalamocortical circuit dysfunction has been implicated in multiple neurodevelopmental disorders, including schizophrenia, which also often exhibit sex differences in prevalence, clinical characteristics, and neuropathology. However, very little is known about developmental and sex effects on thalamocortical networks in youth. The present study characterized the effects of age, sex and psychosis symptomatology in anatomically constrained thalamocortical networks in a large community sample of youth (n = 1100, aged 8–21) from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (PNC). Cortical functional connectivity of seven anatomically defined thalamic nuclear groups were examined: anterior, mediodorsal, ventral lateral, ventral posterolateral, pulvinar, medial and lateral geniculate nuclear groups. Age and sex effects were characterized using complementary thalamic region-of-interest (ROI) to cortical ROI and voxel-wise analyses. Effects of clinical symptomatology were analyzed by separating youth into three groups based on their clinical symptoms; typically developing youth (n = 298), psychosis spectrum youth (n = 320), and youth with other psychopathologies (n = 482). As an exploratory analysis, association with PRIME scores were used as a dimensional measure of psychopathology. Age effects were broadly characterized by decreasing connectivity with sensory/motor cortical areas, and increasing connectivity with heteromodal prefrontal and parietal cortical areas. This pattern was most pronounced for thalamic motor and sensory nuclei. Females showed greater connectivity between multiple thalamic nuclear groups and the visual cortex compared to males, while males showed greater connectivity with the inferior frontal and orbitofrontal cortices. Youth with psychosis spectrum symptoms showed a subtle decrease in thalamic connectivity with the premotor and prefrontal cortices. Across all youth, greater PRIME scores were associated with lower connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and mediodorsal thalamus. By characterizing typical development in anatomically constrained thalamocortical networks, this study provides an anchor for conceptualizing disruptions to the integrity of these networks observed in neurodevelopmental disorders.

丘脑由多个核团组成，这些核团以有组织的方式与皮层紧密相连，形成对感觉、运动和认知功能至关重要的平行丘脑皮层网络。丘脑皮质回路功能障碍与多种神经发育障碍有关，包括精神分裂症，其在患病率、临床特征和神经病理学方面也经常表现出性别差异。然而，关于青少年丘脑皮质网络的发育和性别影响知之甚少。本研究描述了年龄、性别和精神病症状对大型社区青年样本中解剖学受限的丘脑皮层网络的影响 ( n = 1100，8-21 岁）来自费城神经发育队列 (PNC)。检查了七个解剖学定义的丘脑核群的皮质功能连通性：前部、背内侧、腹侧、腹侧后外侧、枕核、内侧和外侧膝状体核群。使用互补的丘脑感兴趣区域 (ROI) 到皮质 ROI 和体素明智的分析来表征年龄和性别影响。根据临床症状将青少年分为三组，分析临床症状学的影响；典型发育青年 ( n  = 298)、精神病谱青年 ( n  = 320) 和患有其他精神疾病的青年 ( n = 482）。作为探索性分析，与 PRIME 分数的关联被用作精神病理学的维度测量。年龄效应的广泛特征是与感觉/运动皮层区域的连通性降低，以及与异型前额叶和顶叶皮质区域的连通性增加。这种模式对于丘脑运动和感觉核最为明显。与男性相比，女性在多个丘脑核群和视觉皮层之间表现出更大的连通性，而男性则表现出与下额叶和眶额叶皮质之间更大的连通性。患有精神病谱系症状的青年表现出丘脑与前运动和前额叶皮质的连接性轻微下降。在所有青少年中，更高的 PRIME 分数与前额叶皮层和内侧丘脑之间的连接性更低有关。