title: Development of hippocampal subfield volumes from 4 to 22 years.
abstract: The hippocampus supports several important cognitive functions known to undergo substantial development during childhood and adolescence, for example, encoding and consolidation of vivid personal memories. However, diverging developmental effects on hippocampal volume have been observed across studies. It is possible that the inconsistent findings may attribute to varying developmental processes and functions related to different hippocampal subregions. Most studies to date have measured global hippocampal volume. We aimed to explore early hippocampal development both globally and regionally within subfields. Using cross-sectional 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging data from 244 healthy participants aged 4-22 years, we performed automated hippocampal segmentation of seven subfield volumes; cornu ammonis (CA) 1, CA2/3, CA4/dentate gyrus (DG), presubiculum, subiculum, fimbria, and hippocampal fissure. For validation purposes, seven subjects were scanned at both 1.5 and 3 T, and all subfields except fimbria showed strong correlations across field strengths. Effects of age, left and right hemisphere, sex and their interactions were explored. Nonparametric local smoothing models (smoothing spline) were used to depict age-trajectories. Results suggested nonlinear age functions for most subfields where volume increases until 13-15 years, followed by little age-related changes during adolescence. Further, the results showed greater right than left hippocampal volumes that seemed to be augmenting in older age. Sex differences were also found for subfields; CA2/3, CA4/DG, presubiculum, subiculum, and CA1, mainly driven by participants under 13 years. These results provide a detailed characterization of hippocampal subfield development from early childhood.
authors: Department of Psychology, Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, University of Oslo, Norway.
authors: Stine K
authors: SK
authors: Krogsrud
authors: Christian K
authors: CK
authors: Tamnes
authors: Anders M
authors: AM
authors: Fjell
authors: Inge
authors: I
authors: Amlien
authors: Håkon
authors: H
authors: Grydeland
authors: Unni
authors: U
authors: Sulutvedt
authors: Paulina
authors: P
authors: Due-Tønnessen
authors: Atle
authors: A
authors: Bjørnerud
authors: Anne E
authors: AE
authors: Sølsnes
authors: Asta K
authors: AK
authors: Håberg
authors: Jon
authors: J
authors: Skrane
authors: Kristine B
authors: KB
authors: Walhovd
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: brain maturation; children; dentate gyrus; hippocampus; magnetic resonance imaging