Journal
CEREBRAL CORTEX
Volume 25, Issue 9, Pages 2883-2893Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhu084
Keywords
asymmetry; brain; development; diffusion imaging; human tractography; white matter
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Funding
- Eunice Shriver Kennedy National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) [NIH R01HD078561, R21HD069001]
- Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards [NIH F32 AR058105]
- Biomedical Technology Program of the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), National Institutes of Health [NIH P41RR14075]
- NCRR Shared Instrumentation Grant Program [NIH S10RR023401, S10RR019307, S10RR023043]
- High-End Instrumentation Grant Program [NIH S10RR016811]
- Women's Hospital
- Boston Children's Hospital
- Harvard Medical School
- [NIH MH081896]
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Little is known about the emergence of structural asymmetry of white matter tracts during early brain development. We examined whether and when asymmetry in diffusion parameters of limbic and association white matter pathways emerged in humans in 23 brains ranging from 15 gestational weeks (GW) up to 3 years of age (11 ex vivo and 12 in vivo cases) using high-angular resolution diffusion imaging tractography. Age-related development of laterality was not observed in a limbic connectional pathway (cingulum bundle or fornix). Among the studied cortico-cortical association pathways (inferior longitudinal fasciculus [ILF], inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and arcuate fasciculus), only the ILF showed development of age-related laterality emerging as early as the second trimester. Comparisons of ages older and younger than 40 GW revealed a leftward asymmetry in the cingulum bundle volume and a rightward asymmetry in apparent diffusion coefficient and leftward asymmetry in fractional anisotropy in the ILF in ages older than 40 GW. These results suggest that morphometric asymmetry in cortical areas precedes the emergence of white matter pathway asymmetry. Future correlative studies will investigate whether such asymmetry is anatomically/genetically driven or associated with functional stimulation.
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