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White matter development during childhood and adolescence: a cross-sectional diffusion tensor imaging study
Naama Barnea-Goraly1, Vinod Menon, Mark Eckert
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, and Department of Psychology, Children's Hospital of Orange County, Orange, CA 92868, USA. naamab@stanford.edu
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
|March 11, 2005
Summary
Brain white matter pathways mature during childhood, impacting development. This study shows increasing anisotropy with age in key brain regions, crucial for cognitive and motor skills.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Radiology
Background:
- White matter pathway maturation is critical for cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and motor development in children and adolescents.
- Understanding these developmental changes is essential for identifying potential alterations in developmental disorders.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate white matter maturation by analyzing changes in anisotropy and density with age in children and adolescents.
- To correlate fractional anisotropy (FA) changes with age and examine associated white matter density alterations.
Main Methods:
- Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were acquired from 34 children and adolescents (aged 6-19 years).
- High-resolution T1-weighted anatomical scans were obtained from 30 participants.
- A linear regression model analyzed voxel-wise correlations between fractional anisotropy (FA) and age, followed by post-hoc analysis of white matter density.
Main Results:
- Fractional anisotropy (FA) values increased with age in prefrontal regions, internal capsule, basal ganglia, thalamic pathways, ventral visual pathways, and corpus callosum.
- The posterior limb of the internal capsule, intrathalamic connections, and corpus callosum exhibited significant overlap in FA and white matter density changes with age.
- These findings highlight typical white matter maturation trajectories during development.
Conclusions:
- White matter anisotropy undergoes significant changes during childhood and adolescence in brain regions vital for attention, motor skills, cognition, and memory.
- The observed developmental trajectory of white matter maturation may be disrupted in individuals with developmental, cognitive, or behavioral disorders.