title: Diffusion tensor imaging-based characterization of brain neurodevelopment in primates.
abstract: Primate neuroimaging provides a critical opportunity for understanding neurodevelopment. Yet the lack of a normative description has limited the direct comparison with changes in humans. This paper presents for the ﬁrst time a cross-sectional diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) study characterizing primate brain neurodevelopment between 1 and 6 years of age on 25 healthy undisturbed rhesus monkeys (14 male, 11 female). A comprehensive analysis including region-of-interest, voxel-wise, and ﬁber tract-based approach demonstrated signiﬁcant changes of DTI properties over time. Changes in fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity, axial diffusivity (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD) exhibited a heterogeneous pattern across different regions as well as along ﬁber tracts. Most of these patterns are similar to those from human studies yet a few followed unique patterns. Overall, we observed substantial increase in FA and AD and a decrease in RD for white matter (WM) along with similar yet smaller changes in gray matter (GM). We further observed an overall posterior-to-anterior trend in DTI property changes over time and strong correlations between WM and GM development. These DTI trends provide crucial insights into underlying age-related biological maturation, including myelination, axonal density changes, ﬁber tract reorganization, and synaptic pruning processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7160, USA. yundiuu@gmail.com
authors.forename: Yundi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Short
authors.forename: Rebecca C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Knickmeyer
authors.forename: Jiaping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Christopher L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Coe
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niethammer
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Gilmore
authors.forename: Hongtu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Martin A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Styner
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D009929:Organ Size / Q000502:physiology