Journal
NEUROIMAGE
Volume 54, Issue 1, Pages 25-31Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.08.014
Keywords
White matter; Myelin; Diffusion; DTI; Development; Gradient
Funding
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [R01 HD053893]
- National Center for Research Resources [U54 RR021813]
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences [T32 GM008042]
- National Institute on Drug Abuse [R01 DA017831, R90 DA023422]
- March of Dimes [6-FY2008-50]
- EUNICE KENNEDY SHRIVER NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT [R01HD053893] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH RESOURCES [U54RR021813] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES [T32GM008042] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE [T90DA022768, R01DA017830, R90DA023422] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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A fundamental tenet in the field of developmental neuroscience is that brain maturation generally proceeds from posterior/inferior to anterior/superior. This pattern is thought to underlie the similar timing of cognitive development in related domains, with the dorsal frontal cortices-important for decision making and cognitive control-the last to fully mature. While this caudal to rostral wave of structural development was first qualitatively described for white matter in classical postmortem studies, and has been discussed frequently in the developmental neuroimaging literature and in the popular press, it has never been formally demonstrated continuously and quantitatively across the whole brain with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Here we use diffusion imaging to map developmental changes in the white matter in 32 typically-developing individuals age 5-28 years. We then employ a novel meta-statistic that is sensitive to the timing of this developmental trajectory, and use this integrated strategy to both confirm these long-postulated broad regional gradients in the timing of white matter maturation in vivo, and demonstrate a surprisingly smooth transition in the timing of white matter maturational peaks along a caudal-rostral arc in this cross-sectional sample. These results provide further support for the notion of continued plasticity in these regions well into adulthood, and may provide a new approach for the investigation of neurodevelopmental disorders that could alter the timing of this typical developmental sequence. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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