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Published on: November 21, 2023
Spatiotemporal dynamics of nonhuman primate white matter development during the first year of life
Nakul Aggarwal1, Jason F Moody2, Douglas C Dean3
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6001 Research Park Boulevard, Madison, WI 53719, United States.
Insights
This study tracked white matter (WM) development in infant macaques, revealing rapid early growth and distinct maturation patterns. Early WM microstructure predicts later development, offering insights into neurodevelopmental disorders.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- White matter (WM) development is crucial for brain function and implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders.
- Understanding early postnatal WM development is vital due to potential long-lasting impacts of genetic, developmental, and environmental factors.
- Nonhuman primates (NHPs) offer a valuable model for human brain development due to evolutionary relatedness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize changes in WM microstructure in the postnatal macaque brain during the first year of life.
- To provide a quantitative understanding of early WM growth in NHPs.
- To establish a foundation for investigating the impact of altered early WM development on human psychopathology.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal imaging (T1-weighted and diffusion tensor imaging - DTI) of 34 rhesus monkeys at multiple time points from 3 to 53 weeks of age.
- Linear mixed-effects (LME) modeling to analyze white matter fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), and radial diffusivity (RD) trajectories in 18 WM tracts.
- K-means clustering and rank ordering of LME model parameters to identify developmental gradients.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated robust logarithmic growth in FA, MD, and RD trajectories, with rapid development in the first 10 weeks followed by decelerated growth.
- Identified distinct posterior-to-anterior and medial-to-lateral gradients in WM maturation across the brain.
- Found significant correlations between individual differences in WM microstructure at 3 weeks and 1 year of age.
Conclusions:
- Provides a quantitative characterization of early postnatal white matter growth in nonhuman primates.
- Highlights the importance of early developmental trajectories in shaping long-term WM microstructure.
- Lays the groundwork for future research on the link between early WM development and human neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders.
Abstract:
White matter (WM) development early in life is a critical component of brain development that facilitates the coordinated function of neuronal pathways. Additionally, alterations in WM have been implicated in various neurodevelopmental disorders, including psychiatric disorders. Because of the need to understand WM development in the weeks immediately following birth, we characterized changes in WM microstructure throughout the postnatal macaque brain during the first year of life. This is a period in primates during which genetic, developmental, and environmental factors may have long-lasting impacts on WM microstructure. Studies in nonhuman primates (NHPs) are particularly valuable as a model for understanding human brain development because of their evolutionary relatedness to humans. Here, 34 rhesus monkeys (23 females, 11 males) were imaged longitudinally at 3, 7, 13, 25, and 53 weeks of age with T1-weighted (MPnRAGE) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). With linear mixed-effects (LME) modeling, we demonstrated robust logarithmic growth in FA, MD, and RD trajectories extracted from 18 WM tracts across the brain. Estimated rate of change curves for FA, MD, and RD exhibited an initial 10-week period of exceedingly rapid WM development, followed by a precipitous decline in growth rates. K-means clustering of raw DTI trajectories and rank ordering of LME model parameters revealed distinct posterior-to-anterior and medial-to-lateral gradients in WM maturation. Finally, we found that individual differences in WM microstructure assessed at 3 weeks of age were significantly related to those at 1 year of age. This study provides a quantitative characterization of very early WM growth in NHPs and lays the foundation for future work focused on the impact of alterations in early WM developmental trajectories in relation to human psychopathology.
