Journal
NEUROIMAGE
Volume 35, Issue 2, Pages 501-510Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.10.047
Keywords
magnetic resonance imaging; diffusion tensor imaging; arcuate fasiculus; axial diffusivity; fiber pathways; fractional anisotropy; language
Funding
- NCRR NIH HHS [M01 RR18535] Funding Source: Medline
- NIMH NIH HHS [MH-070612, MH-60221, R01 MH060221] Funding Source: Medline
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Background. Previous AIM studies of healthy children have reported age-related white matter (WM) changes in language and motor areas of the brain. The authors investigated WM development in healthy adolescent males through age-associated changes in fractional anisotropy (FA), radial (lambda(perpendicular to)) and axial (lambda(perpendicular to)) diffusivity. Methods: Twenty-four healthy adolescent males (mean age=16.6, SD=2.5 years) were divided into two groups with an age split of 16.9 years and underwent a whole-brain voxelwise analysis. Results: At a threshold of p < 0.001 and extent threshold of 100 contiguous voxels, several clusters with increased FA and axial diffusivity and no differences in radial diffusivity were observed in older adolescents compared to the younger adolescents in the left arcuate fasciculus, bilateral posterior internal capsule/thalamic radiation, bilateral prefrontal gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus, and posterior corpus callosum. Increased FA and All of several clusters along the arcuate fasciculus significantly correlated with a test of language and semantic memory Conclusions: These results suggest ongoing maturational changes especially in the arcuate fasiculus during late adolescence. Increased FA and All with no changes in radial diffusivity may reflect a developmental pattern of reduced tortuousity toward more straightened fibers and/or increased axonal fiber organization during late adolescence. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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