Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 27, Issue 6, Pages 1255-1260Publisher
SOC NEUROSCIENCE
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3339-06.2007
Keywords
human; magnetic resonance imaging; brain development; cortex; white matter; myelination
Categories
Funding
- NICHD NIH HHS [P30 HD003110-39, HD40127, P30 HD003110, HD03110, T32 HD040127-05, T32 HD040127] Funding Source: Medline
- NIMH NIH HHS [MH064065, P50 MH064065-01A10002, P50 MH064065] Funding Source: Medline
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Although there has been recent interest in the study of childhood and adolescent brain development, very little is known about normal brain development in the first few months of life. In older children, there are regional differences in cortical gray matter development, whereas cortical gray and white matter growth after birth has not been studied to a great extent. The adult human brain is also characterized by cerebral asymmetries and sexual dimorphisms, although very little is known about how these asymmetries and dimorphisms develop. We used magnetic resonance imaging and an automatic segmentation methodology to study brain structure in 74 neonates in the first few weeks after birth. We found robust cortical gray matter growth compared with white matter growth, with occipital regions growing much faster than prefrontal regions. Sexual dimorphism is present at birth, with males having larger total brain cortical gray and white matter volumes than females. In contrast to adults and older children, the left hemisphere is larger than the right hemisphere, and the normal pattern of fronto-occipital asymmetry described in older children and adults is not present. Regional differences in cortical gray matter growth are likely related to differential maturation of sensory and motor systems compared with prefrontal executive function after birth. These findings also indicate that whereas some adult patterns of sexual dimorphism and cerebral asymmetries are present at birth, others develop after birth.
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