Structural brain network lateralization across childhood and adolescence.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Neuroscience
• Brain Imaging

Background:

• Behavioral specialization relies on lateralized brain function.
• Limited research exists on hemispheric differences in structural brain connectivity during development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the lateralization of structural brain connectivity patterns (topology) in children, adolescents, and young adults.
• To investigate developmental changes in topological metrics like global efficiency, clustering coefficient (CC), betweenness centrality (BC), and hierarchical complexity (HC).

Main Methods:

• Applied graph theory to quantify topological metrics in each brain hemisphere.
• Analyzed cross-sectional data from 211 participants aged 6–21 years.
• Examined BC and CC within seven functionally defined brain networks.

Main Results:

• Global efficiency, hierarchical complexity, and clustering coefficient showed leftward lateralization.
• Betweenness centrality exhibited rightward lateralization.
• Specific networks displayed lateralized CC (sensorimotor, default mode, salience, language) and BC (salience, dorsal attention).

Conclusions:

• Topological lateralization of brain structure is largely consistent across development from childhood to young adulthood.
• This consistency suggests underlying nonlinear mechanisms driving developmental specialization.
• Topological lateralization may serve as a stable biomarker of brain development.