Charting structural brain asymmetry across the human lifespan

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Human Brain Development
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• Brain lateralization is a key organizational principle.
• Understanding brain asymmetry is crucial for studying neurological disorders.
• Existing normative data for brain asymmetry is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a comprehensive, lifespan normative framework for brain asymmetry.
• To provide hemisphere-specific growth charts for neuroimaging phenotypes.
• To enable quantification of individual deviations from typical brain asymmetry.

Main Methods:

• Aggregated data from 128 neuroimaging studies (177,701 scans, 138,231 individuals).
• Included individuals from 20 postmenstrual weeks to 102 years.
• Developed normative growth charts for cortical and subcortical brain structures.

Main Results:

• Identified distinct spatial patterns of asymmetry across the lifespan (early leftward, late rightward).
• Generated tools for calculating asymmetry centile scores.
• Demonstrated group-level asymmetry differences in autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease.

Conclusions:

• The normative framework advances understanding of brain lateralization and its neuroplasticity.
• Tools facilitate individual asymmetry quantification and clinical application.
• The open-access resource supports basic and clinical neuroscience research.