Mapping brain maturation.
Human brain maturation is a complex, lifelong process that can now be examined in detail using neuroimaging techniques. Ongoing projects scan subjects longitudinally with structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), enabling the time-course and anatomical sequence of development to be reconstructed. Here, we review recent progress on imaging studies of development. We focus on cortical and subcortical changes observed in healthy children, and contrast them with abnormal developmental changes in early-onset schizophrenia, fetal alcohol syndrome, attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Williams syndrome. We relate these structural changes to the cellular processes that underlie them, and to cognitive and behavioral changes occurring throughout childhood and adolescence.
Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Department of Neurology, UCLA School of Medicine, 635 Charles E. Young Drive South, Suite 225, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7332, USA. toga@loni.ucla.edu
Arthur W
AW
Toga
Paul M
PM
Thompson
Elizabeth R
ER
Sowell
D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D063647:Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D011247:Pregnancy; D012016:Reference Values; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology; D018433:Twin Studies as Topic; D018980:Williams Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology