Examining the relationships between cortical maturation and white matter myelination throughout early childhood.
Cortical development and white matter myelination are hallmark processes of infant and child neurodevelopment, and play a central role in the evolution of cognitive and behavioral functioning. Non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used to independently track these microstructural and morphological changes in vivo, however few studies have investigated the relationship between them despite their concurrency in the developing brain. Further, because measures of cortical morphology rely on underlying gray-white matter tissue contrast, which itself is a function of white matter myelination, it is unclear if contrast-based measures of cortical development accurately reflect cortical architecture, or if they merely represent adjacent white matter maturation. This may be particularly true in young children, in whom brain structure is rapidly maturing. Here for the first time, we investigate the dynamic relationship between cortical and white matter development across early childhood, from 1 to 6years. We present measurements of cortical thickness with respect to cortical and adjacent myelin water fraction (MWF) in 33 bilateral cortical regions. Significant results in only 14 of 66 (21%) cortical regions suggest that cortical thickness measures are not heavily driven by changes in adjacent white matter, and that brain imaging studies of cortical and white matter maturation reflect distinct, but complimentary, neurodevelopmental processes.
Advanced Baby Imaging Lab, Brown University School of Engineering, Providence, RI, 02912, USA; Center for Biomedical Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA. Electronic address: elise_croteau-chonka@brown.edu.
Elise C
EC
Croteau-Chonka
Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53705, USA.
Douglas C
DC
Dean
Advanced Baby Imaging Lab, Brown University School of Engineering, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
Justin
J
Remer
Advanced Baby Imaging Lab, Brown University School of Engineering, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
Holly
H
Dirks
Department of Neuroimaging, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom.
Jonathan
J
O'Muircheartaigh
Advanced Baby Imaging Lab, Brown University School of Engineering, Providence, RI, 02912, USA; Department of Pediatric Radiology, Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA; Department of Radiology, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA.
Sean C L
SCL
Deoni
D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000254:growth & development*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000502:physiology*; D066127:White Matter / Q000254:growth & development*
Brain MRI; Cortical development; Cortical thickness; Infant brain development; Myelin water fraction; Myelination