Development of the Corticospinal and Callosal Tracts from Extremely Premature Birth up to 2 Years of Age
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
White matter tracts mature asymmetrically during development, and this development can
be studied using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging. The aims of this study were i. to
generate dynamic population-averaged white matter registration templates covering in detail
the period from 25 weeks gestational age to term, and extending to 2 years of age based
on DTI and fractional anisotropy, ii. to produce tract-specific probability maps of the corticospinal
tracts, forceps major and forceps minor using probabilistic tractography, and iii. to
assess the development of these tracts throughout this critical period of neurodevelopment.
We found evidence for asymmetric development across the fiber bundles studied, with the
corticospinal tracts showing earlier maturation (as measured by fractional anisotropy) but
slower volumetric growth compared to the callosal fibers. We also found evidence for an anterior
to posterior gradient in white matter microstructure development (as measured by
mean diffusivity) in the callosal fibers, with the posterior forceps major developing at a faster
rate than the anterior forceps minor in this age range. Finally, we report a protocol for delineating
callosal and corticospinal fibers in extremely premature cohorts, and make available
population-averaged registration templates and a probabilistic tract atlas which we hope will
be useful for future neonatal and infant white-matter imaging studies.
be studied using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging. The aims of this study were i. to
generate dynamic population-averaged white matter registration templates covering in detail
the period from 25 weeks gestational age to term, and extending to 2 years of age based
on DTI and fractional anisotropy, ii. to produce tract-specific probability maps of the corticospinal
tracts, forceps major and forceps minor using probabilistic tractography, and iii. to
assess the development of these tracts throughout this critical period of neurodevelopment.
We found evidence for asymmetric development across the fiber bundles studied, with the
corticospinal tracts showing earlier maturation (as measured by fractional anisotropy) but
slower volumetric growth compared to the callosal fibers. We also found evidence for an anterior
to posterior gradient in white matter microstructure development (as measured by
mean diffusivity) in the callosal fibers, with the posterior forceps major developing at a faster
rate than the anterior forceps minor in this age range. Finally, we report a protocol for delineating
callosal and corticospinal fibers in extremely premature cohorts, and make available
population-averaged registration templates and a probabilistic tract atlas which we hope will
be useful for future neonatal and infant white-matter imaging studies.
Date Issued
2015-05-08
Date Acceptance
2015-03-21
Citation
PLOS One, 2015, 10 (5)
ISSN
1932-6203
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Journal / Book Title
PLOS One
Volume
10
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2015 Braga et al. This is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original author and source are
credited.
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original author and source are
credited.
License URL
Subjects
Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology - Other Topics
CEREBRAL WHITE-MATTER
WEIGHT PRETERM INFANTS
DIFFUSION-TENSOR MRI
TERM-EQUIVALENT AGE
SPATIAL STATISTICS
NEURODEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES
MICROSTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT
FIBER TRACTOGRAPHY
CORPUS-CALLOSUM
BRAIN
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e0125681