title: Development of insula connectivity between ages 12 and 30 revealed by high angular resolution diffusion imaging.
abstract: The insula, hidden deep within the Sylvian fissures, has proven difficult to study from a connectivity perspective. Most of our current information on the anatomical connectivity of the insula comes from studies of nonhuman primates and post mortem human dissections. To date, only two neuroimaging studies have successfully examined the connectivity of the insula. Here we examine how the connectivity of the insula develops between ages 12 and 30, in 307 young adolescent and adult subjects scanned with 4-Tesla high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI). The density of fiber connections between the insula and the frontal and parietal cortex decreased with age, but the connection density between the insula and the temporal cortex generally increased with age. This trajectory is in line with well-known patterns of cortical development in these regions. In addition, males and females showed different developmental trajectories for the connection between the left insula and the left precentral gyrus. The insula plays many different roles, some of them affected in neuropsychiatric disorders; this information on the insula's connectivity may help efforts to elucidate mechanisms of brain disorders in which it is implicated.
authors.affiliation: Imaging Genetics Center, Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Emily L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Dennis
authors.forename: Neda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jahanshad
authors.forename: Katie L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: McMahon
authors.forename: Greig I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: de Zubicaray
authors.forename: Nicholas G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Ian B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Hickie
authors.forename: Arthur W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Toga
authors.forename: Margaret J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D002648:Child; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development; D012737:Sex Factors; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: HARDI; development; insula; structural connectivity; tractography