Diffusion tensor imaging of neurodevelopment in children and young adults

Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTI) was used to study regional changes in the brain's development from childhood (8-12 years, mean 11.1 +/- 1.3, N = 32) to young adulthood (21-27 years, mean 24.4 +/- 1.8, N = 28). Mean diffusivity (Trace/3 apparent diffusion coefficient, ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) were measured in 30 regions of interest (ROIs) in 13 distinct brain structures. Correlational analysis was performed to detect changes within 8-12 years and within 21-27 years, and group analysis to compare childhood diffusion properties with young adult values. Increases of fractional anisotropy were seen in the genu of the corpus callosum, splenium of the corpus callosum, corona radiata, putamen, and head of the caudate nucleus within 8-12 years, and also between childhood and young adulthood. Reductions in Trace/3 ADC were observed in 9 of 13 structures within 8-12 years and into young adulthood as well. DTI demonstrates more widespread changes in the brain's microstructure with maturation than previous reports using conventional T1-weighted MRI scans. These findings suggest a continuation of the brain's microstructural development through adolescence.

[1]  Marko Wilke,et al.  Correlation of white matter diffusivity and anisotropy with age during childhood and adolescence: a cross-sectional diffusion-tensor MR imaging study. , 2002, Radiology.

[2]  J. Gabrieli,et al.  Myelination and organization of the frontal white matter in children: a diffusion tensor MRI study. , 1999, Neuroreport.

[3]  K. Lim,et al.  Age‐related decline in brain white matter anisotropy measured with spatially corrected echo‐planar diffusion tensor imaging , 2000, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[4]  A. Snyder,et al.  Diffusion-tensor MR imaging of gray and white matter development during normal human brain maturation. , 2002, AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology.

[5]  T. Nakada,et al.  Absolute eigenvalue diffusion tensor analysis for human brain maturation , 2003, NMR in biomedicine.

[6]  C. Filley.  The Behavioral Neurology of White Matter , 2001 .

[7]  Christian Beaulieu,et al.  Diffusion anisotropy in subcortical white matter and cortical gray matter: Changes with aging and the role of CSF‐suppression , 2004, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[8]  P. V. van Zijl,et al.  Three‐dimensional tracking of axonal projections in the brain by magnetic resonance imaging , 1999, Annals of neurology.

[9]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Growth patterns in the developing brain detected by using continuum mechanical tensor maps , 2000, Nature.

[10]  A. Minkowski,et al.  Regional Development of the Brain in Early Life , 1968 .

[11]  J. Blau.  Color Atlas of Neuroscience. Neuroanatomy and Neurophysiology , 2000 .

[12]  P. Yakovlev,et al.  The myelogenetic cycles of regional maturation of the brain , 1967 .

[13]  D. Norman,et al.  Normal maturation of the neonatal and infant brain: MR imaging at 1.5 T. , 1988, Radiology.

[14]  J. Tsuruda,et al.  Diffusion-weighted MR imaging of anisotropic water diffusion in cat central nervous system. , 1990, Radiology.

[15]  Pratik Mukherjee,et al.  Diffusion-tensor MR imaging of normal brain maturation: a guide to structural development and myelination. , 2003, AJR. American journal of roentgenology.

[16]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Structural maturation of neural pathways in children and adolescents: in vivo study. , 1999, Science.

[17]  P. Basser.  Inferring microstructural features and the physiological state of tissues from diffusion‐weighted images , 1995, NMR in biomedicine.

[18]  A. Toga,et al.  In vivo evidence for post-adolescent brain maturation in frontal and striatal regions , 1999, Nature Neuroscience.

[19]  C. Büchel,et al.  White matter asymmetry in the human brain: a diffusion tensor MRI study. , 2004, Cerebral cortex.

[20]  D. Tuch.  Q‐ball imaging , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[21]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Maturation of white matter in the human brain: a review of magnetic resonance studies , 2001, Brain Research Bulletin.

[22]  S C Williams,et al.  Non‐invasive assessment of axonal fiber connectivity in the human brain via diffusion tensor MRI , 1999, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[23]  T. Chenevert,et al.  Anisotropic diffusion in human white matter: demonstration with MR techniques in vivo. , 1990, Radiology.

[24]  A. Pfefferbaum,et al.  Diffusion tensor imaging and aging , 2006, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

[25]  A. Snyder,et al.  Radial organization of developing preterm human cerebral cortex revealed by non-invasive water diffusion anisotropy MRI. , 2002, Cerebral cortex.

[26]  A. Toga,et al.  Mapping Continued Brain Growth and Gray Matter Density Reduction in Dorsal Frontal Cortex: Inverse Relationships during Postadolescent Brain Maturation , 2001, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[27]  J. Townsend,et al.  Normal brain development and aging: quantitative analysis at in vivo MR imaging in healthy volunteers. , 2000, Radiology.

[28]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Brain development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study , 1999, Nature Neuroscience.

[29]  K. A. Il’yasov,et al.  Fast quantitative diffusion-tensor imaging of cerebral white matter from the neonatal period to adolescence , 2004, Neuroradiology.

[30]  Haruyasu Yamada,et al.  Normal aging in the central nervous system: quantitative MR diffusion-tensor analysis , 2002, Neurobiology of Aging.

[31]  B. Brody,et al.  Sequence of Central Nervous System Myelination in Human Infancy. I. An Autopsy Study of Myelination , 1987, Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology.

[32]  Denis Le Bihan,et al.  Looking into the functional architecture of the brain with diffusion MRI , 2003, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[33]  P. Hüppi,et al.  Diffusion tensor imaging of normal and injured developing human brain ‐ a technical review , 2002, NMR in biomedicine.

[34]  M. Moseley.  Diffusion tensor imaging and aging – a review , 2002, NMR in biomedicine.

[35]  T. Jernigan,et al.  Development of cortical and subcortical brain structures in childhood and adolescence: a structural MRI study , 2002, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[36]  F. Benes,et al.  Myelination of a key relay zone in the hippocampal formation occurs in the human brain during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. , 1994, Archives of general psychiatry.

[37]  M. Raichle,et al.  Tracking neuronal fiber pathways in the living human brain. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[38]  C. Beaulieu,et al.  The basis of anisotropic water diffusion in the nervous system – a technical review , 2002, NMR in biomedicine.

[39]  J. Shimony,et al.  Normal brain maturation during childhood: developmental trends characterized with diffusion-tensor MR imaging. , 2001, Radiology.

[40]  A. Toga,et al.  Mapping Changes in the Human Cortex throughout the Span of Life , 2004, The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry.