Cortical Microstructure Development in the Infant Human Brain with Diffusion Kurtosis
Poster No:
1738
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Ziqin Zhang1,2, Ruolin Li1,2, Runjia Lin1,3, Tianjia Zhu1,2, Cheng-En Lee1, Kay Sindabizera1, Sovesh Mohapatra1,2, Minhui Ouyang1,4, Hao Huang1,4
Institutions:
1Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, 2Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 3School of Software, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China, 4Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
First Author:
Ziqin Zhang
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA|Philadelphia, PA
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA|Philadelphia, PA
Co-Author(s):
Ruolin Li
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA|Philadelphia, PA
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA|Philadelphia, PA
Runjia Lin
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|School of Software, Dalian University of Technology
Philadelphia, PA|Dalian, China
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|School of Software, Dalian University of Technology
Philadelphia, PA|Dalian, China
Tianjia Zhu
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA|Philadelphia, PA
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA|Philadelphia, PA
Sovesh Mohapatra
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA|Philadelphia, PA
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA|Philadelphia, PA
Minhui Ouyang
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA|Philadelphia, PA
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA|Philadelphia, PA
Hao Huang
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA|Philadelphia, PA
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia|Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA|Philadelphia, PA
Introduction:
Understanding cortical microstructure development is crucial for comprehending early brain development (Huang, 2015, 2019). This maturation is driven by intricate molecular and cellular processes occurring in a spatiotemporal pattern, resulting in dynamic microstructural changes, such as dendritic arborization, synapse formation, and myelination of intracortical axons (Jeon, 2012; Ouyang, 2019, 2020). While diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has traditionally been used to study these developments, diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) quantifies non-Gaussian water diffusion, providing a more accurate depiction of the restricted diffusion properties within the cerebral cortex (Ball, 2013; Ouyang, 2019; Steven et al., 2014). This study leverages DKI-derived mean kurtosis (MK) maps to advance our understanding of cortical microstructural maturation during infancy, revealing comprehensive developmental trajectories from 1 to 24 months of age.
Methods:
A total of 348 typically developing infants aged 1-24 months were recruited, with 96 underwent complete T1-weighted MRI (TR/TE = 2400/2.4ms, 0.8 mm isotropic) and at least partial complete dMRI scans. Cutting-edge infant multi-shell (b-value = 0, 1000, and 2500 s/mm2) dMRI with the highest resolution to date (1.2 mm isotropic) was acquired on a 3T Siemens Prisma. Diffusion tensor and kurtosis fitting were processed through a robust infant brain image analysis pipeline for high-fidelity kurtosis and tensor fitting. Gray matter probability maps from T1w images were registered to a 12-month template to get the cortical "skeleton" (Smith et al. 2006). DKI and DTI-derived maps were aligned to the template space to extract regional MK measurements. The 1-year-old DIBS atlas was used to delineate 21 cortical regions of interest (ROIs) per hemisphere. Regional MK averages for each ROI were calculated within cortical areas using the cortical skeleton. The generalized additive models (k=3) were used to model MK maturation across the cortical regions and between genders.
Results:
The high-quality diffusion MRI data of infant brains with 1.2 mm isotropic high resolution enables us to appreciate fine details of brain microstructure and delineate the gray matter on MK maps (Fig 1). The spatiotemporal maps of MK across the cortical surface from 1 to 24 months show an increase in MK throughout the cortex during infancy (Fig 2A). After 18 months, there is a stabilization or slight decline in MK. The developmental trends of MK across different brain regions from 1 to 24 months demonstrate the overall MK trend for the cortex and the average trajectories for each brain lobe, as well as detailed MK trends for specific gyri in the four lobes (Fig 2B). Though regions mature at slightly different rates, the overall trend of rapid early development, indicating rapid microstructural maturation like the growth and branching of dendrites, followed by stabilization, suggesting potential stabilization or subtle reorganization of cortical microstructure by 24 months, is consistent throughout the cerebral cortex. The MK trajectories for male and female infants show similar maturation patterns across cortical regions for both genders (Fig 2C). Vertical lines indicate the peak of each trend line, with females reaching these peaks at a younger age than males. The subtle but notable difference in the timing of cortical development peaking between genders potentially reflects biological variations in early brain growth.
·Fig 1. High-resolution diffusion MRI images of infant brains.
·Fig 2. Spatiotemporal maps of cortical MK, differential trajectories of MK across cortical regions, and differential trajectories of cortical MK for male and female subjects
Conclusions:
The study revealed both common and different unique growth trends across brain regions and between genders, offering invaluable insight into spatiotemporal changes in cortical cytoarchitecture by leveraging cutting-edge multi-shell infant diffusion MRI with the highest resolution available to date. The cortical cytoarchitectural trendlines could serve as references for normal infant development and disorders.
Lifespan Development:
Early life, Adolescence, Aging
Normal Brain Development: Fetus to Adolescence 2
Neuroanatomy, Physiology, Metabolism and Neurotransmission:
Cortical Cyto- and Myeloarchitecture 1
Normal Development
Keywords:
Cortex
Development
MRI
PEDIATRIC
Other - Cortical Microstructure, Normative Trajectories
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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