title: Common and heritable components of white matter microstructure predict cognitive function at 1 and 2 y.
abstract: Previous studies indicate that the microstructure of individual white matter (WM) tracts is related to cognitive function. More recent studies indicate that the microstructure of individual tracts is highly correlated and that a property common across WM is related to overall cognitive function in adults. However, little is known about whether these common WM properties exist in early childhood development or how they are related to cognitive development. In this study, we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to investigate common underlying factors in 12 fiber tracts, their relationship with cognitive function, and their heritability in a longitudinal sample of healthy children at birth (n = 535), 1 y (n = 322), and 2 y (n = 244) of age. Our data show that, in neonates, there is a highly significant correlation between major WM tracts that decreases from birth to 2 y of age. Over the same period, the factor structure increases in complexity, from one factor at birth to three factors at age 2 y, which explain 50% of variance. The identified common factors of DTI metrics in each age group are significantly correlated with general cognitive scores and predict cognitive ability in later childhood. These factors are moderately heritable. These findings illustrate the anatomical differentiation of WM fiber from birth to 2 y of age that correlate with cognitive development. Our results also suggest that the common factor approach is an informative way to study WM development and its relationship with cognition and is a useful approach for future imaging genetic studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.|Department of Psychiatry, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu 700721, South Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Jae
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
authors.forename: Rachel J
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6796-1592
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Steiner
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics and Operations Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Short
authors.affiliation: Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298.
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Neale
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.|Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
authors.forename: Martin Andreas
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Styner
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.|Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
authors.forename: Hongtu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599; jgilmore@med.unc.edu.|Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Gilmore
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D014427:Twins; D066127:White Matter / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*
keywords: DTI; cognition; factor analysis; heritability; white matter