title: Dynamic Development of Regional Cortical Thickness and Surface Area in Early Childhood.
abstract: Cortical thickness (CT) and surface area (SA) are altered in many neuropsychiatric disorders and are correlated with cognitive functioning. Little is known about how these components of cortical gray matter develop in the first years of life. We studied the longitudinal development of regional CT and SA expansion in healthy infants from birth to 2 years. CT and SA have distinct and heterogeneous patterns of development that are exceptionally dynamic; overall CT increases by an average of 36.1%, while cortical SA increases 114.6%. By age 2, CT is on average 97% of adult values, compared with SA, which is 69%. This suggests that early identification, prevention, and intervention strategies for neuropsychiatric illness need to be targeted to this period of rapid postnatal brain development, and that SA expansion is the principal driving factor in cortical volume after 2 years of age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry.
authors.forename: Amanda E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Lyall
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Research Imaging Center Department of Radiology.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry.
authors.forename: Xiujuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Woolson
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Research Imaging Center Department of Radiology.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Research Imaging Center Department of Radiology.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7160, USA.
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Hamer
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Research Imaging Center Department of Radiology.
authors.forename: Dinggang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry Biomedical Research Imaging Center.
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Gilmore
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011897:Random Allocation; D012727:Sex Characteristics
keywords: brain development; cerebral cortex; gray matter; human; magnetic resonance imaging