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Liu W, Calixto C, Warfield SK, Karimi D. Streamline tractography of the fetal brain in utero with machine learning. ARXIV 2024:arXiv:2408.14326v1. [PMID: 39253631 PMCID: PMC11383324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/11/2024]
Abstract
Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) is the only non-invasive tool for studying white matter tracts and structural connectivity of the brain. These assessments rely heavily on tractography techniques, which reconstruct virtual streamlines representing white matter fibers. Much effort has been devoted to improving tractography methodology for adult brains, while tractography of the fetal brain has been largely neglected. Fetal tractography faces unique difficulties due to low dMRI signal quality, immature and rapidly developing brain structures, and paucity of reference data. To address these challenges, this work presents the first machine learning model, based on a deep neural network, for fetal tractography. The model input consists of five different sources of information: (1) Voxel-wise fiber orientation, inferred from a diffusion tensor fit to the dMRI signal; (2) Directions of recent propagation steps; (3) Global spatial information, encoded as normalized distances to keypoints in the brain cortex; (4) Tissue segmentation information; and (5) Prior information about the expected local fiber orientations supplied with an atlas. In order to mitigate the local tensor estimation error, a large spatial context around the current point in the diffusion tensor image is encoded using convolutional and attention neural network modules. Moreover, the diffusion tensor information at a hypothetical next point is included in the model input. Filtering rules based on anatomically constrained tractography are applied to prune implausible streamlines. We trained the model on manually-refined whole-brain fetal tractograms and validated the trained model on an independent set of 11 test scans with gestational ages between 23 and 36 weeks. Results show that our proposed method achieves superior performance across all evaluated tracts. The new method can significantly advance the capabilities of dMRI for studying normal and abnormal brain development in utero.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weide Liu
- Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Camilo Calixto
- Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- Elmhurst Hospital Center and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
| | - Simon K Warfield
- Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Davood Karimi
- Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
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Calixto C, Jaimes C, Soldatelli MD, Warfield SK, Gholipour A, Karimi D. Anatomically constrained tractography of the fetal brain. Neuroimage 2024; 297:120723. [PMID: 39029605 PMCID: PMC11382095 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2024] [Accepted: 07/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Diffusion-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) is increasingly used to study the fetal brain in utero. An important computation enabled by dMRI is streamline tractography, which has unique applications such as tract-specific analysis of the brain white matter and structural connectivity assessment. However, due to the low fetal dMRI data quality and the challenging nature of tractography, existing methods tend to produce highly inaccurate results. They generate many false streamlines while failing to reconstruct the streamlines that constitute the major white matter tracts. In this paper, we advocate for anatomically constrained tractography based on an accurate segmentation of the fetal brain tissue directly in the dMRI space. We develop a deep learning method to compute the segmentation automatically. Experiments on independent test data show that this method can accurately segment the fetal brain tissue and drastically improve the tractography results. It enables the reconstruction of highly curved tracts such as optic radiations. Importantly, our method infers the tissue segmentation and streamline propagation direction from a diffusion tensor fit to the dMRI data, making it applicable to routine fetal dMRI scans. The proposed method can facilitate the study of fetal brain white matter tracts with dMRI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camilo Calixto
- Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Camilo Jaimes
- Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | | | - Simon K Warfield
- Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Ali Gholipour
- Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Davood Karimi
- Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
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Cortes-Albornoz MC, Bedoya MA, Choi JJ, Jaimes C. MR insights into fetal brain development: what is normal and what is not. Pediatr Radiol 2024; 54:635-645. [PMID: 38416183 DOI: 10.1007/s00247-024-05890-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2023] [Revised: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
Fetal brain development is a complex, rapid, and multi-dimensional process that can be documented with MRI. In the second and third trimesters, there are predictable developmental changes that must be recognized and differentiated from disease. This review delves into the key biological processes that drive fetal brain development, highlights normal developmental anatomy, and provides a framework to identify pathology. We will summarize the development of the cerebral hemispheres, sulci and gyri, extra-axial and ventricular cerebrospinal fluid, and corpus callosum and illustrate the most common abnormal findings in the clinical setting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Camila Cortes-Albornoz
- Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Pediatric Imaging Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - M Alejandra Bedoya
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jungwhan John Choi
- Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Camilo Jaimes
- Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
- Pediatric Imaging Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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Mulc D, Smilović D, Krsnik Ž, Junaković-Munjas A, Kopić J, Kostović I, Šimić G, Vukšić M. Fetal development of the human amygdala. J Comp Neurol 2024; 532:e25580. [PMID: 38289194 DOI: 10.1002/cne.25580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2023] [Revised: 11/03/2023] [Accepted: 12/31/2023] [Indexed: 02/01/2024]
Abstract
The intricate development of the human amygdala involves a complex interplay of diverse processes, varying in speed and duration. In humans, transient cytoarchitectural structures deliquesce, leading to the formation of functionally distinct nuclei as a result of multiple interdependent developmental events. This study compares the amygdala's cytoarchitectural development in conjunction with specific antibody reactivity for neuronal, glial, neuropil, and radial glial fibers, synaptic, extracellular matrix, and myelin components in 39 fetal human brains. We recognized that the early fetal period, as a continuation of the embryonic period, is still dominated by relatively uniform histogenetic processes. The typical appearance of ovoid cell clusters in the lateral nucleus during midfetal period is most likely associated with the cell migration and axonal growth processes in the developing human brain. Notably, synaptic markers are firstly detected in the corticomedial group of nuclei, while immunoreactivity for the panaxonal neurofilament marker SMI 312 is found dorsally. The late fetal period is characterized by a protracted migration process evidenced by the presence of doublecortin and SOX-2 immunoreactivity ventrally, in the prospective paralaminar nucleus, reinforced by vimentin immunoreactivity in the last remaining radial glial fibers. Nearing the term period, SMI 99 immunoreactivity indicates that perinatal myelination becomes prominent primarily along major axonal pathways, laying the foundation for more pronounced functional maturation. This study comprehensively elucidates the rate and sequence of maturational events in the amygdala, highlighting the key role of prenatal development in its behavioral, autonomic, and endocrine regulation, with subsequent implications for both normal functioning and psychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damir Mulc
- Croatian Institute for Brain Research, School of Medicine, Scientific Centre of Excellence for Basic, Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
- Psychiatric Hospital Vrapče, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Dinko Smilović
- Croatian Institute for Brain Research, School of Medicine, Scientific Centre of Excellence for Basic, Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Željka Krsnik
- Croatian Institute for Brain Research, School of Medicine, Scientific Centre of Excellence for Basic, Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Alisa Junaković-Munjas
- Croatian Institute for Brain Research, School of Medicine, Scientific Centre of Excellence for Basic, Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Janja Kopić
- Croatian Institute for Brain Research, School of Medicine, Scientific Centre of Excellence for Basic, Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Ivica Kostović
- Croatian Institute for Brain Research, School of Medicine, Scientific Centre of Excellence for Basic, Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Goran Šimić
- Croatian Institute for Brain Research, School of Medicine, Scientific Centre of Excellence for Basic, Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Mario Vukšić
- Croatian Institute for Brain Research, School of Medicine, Scientific Centre of Excellence for Basic, Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
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Namburete AIL, Papież BW, Fernandes M, Wyburd MK, Hesse LS, Moser FA, Ismail LC, Gunier RB, Squier W, Ohuma EO, Carvalho M, Jaffer Y, Gravett M, Wu Q, Lambert A, Winsey A, Restrepo-Méndez MC, Bertino E, Purwar M, Barros FC, Stein A, Noble JA, Molnár Z, Jenkinson M, Bhutta ZA, Papageorghiou AT, Villar J, Kennedy SH. Normative spatiotemporal fetal brain maturation with satisfactory development at 2 years. Nature 2023; 623:106-114. [PMID: 37880365 PMCID: PMC10620088 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06630-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2023] [Indexed: 10/27/2023]
Abstract
Maturation of the human fetal brain should follow precisely scheduled structural growth and folding of the cerebral cortex for optimal postnatal function1. We present a normative digital atlas of fetal brain maturation based on a prospective international cohort of healthy pregnant women2, selected using World Health Organization recommendations for growth standards3. Their fetuses were accurately dated in the first trimester, with satisfactory growth and neurodevelopment from early pregnancy to 2 years of age4,5. The atlas was produced using 1,059 optimal quality, three-dimensional ultrasound brain volumes from 899 of the fetuses and an automated analysis pipeline6-8. The atlas corresponds structurally to published magnetic resonance images9, but with finer anatomical details in deep grey matter. The between-study site variability represented less than 8.0% of the total variance of all brain measures, supporting pooling data from the eight study sites to produce patterns of normative maturation. We have thereby generated an average representation of each cerebral hemisphere between 14 and 31 weeks' gestation with quantification of intracranial volume variability and growth patterns. Emergent asymmetries were detectable from as early as 14 weeks, with peak asymmetries in regions associated with language development and functional lateralization between 20 and 26 weeks' gestation. These patterns were validated in 1,487 three-dimensional brain volumes from 1,295 different fetuses in the same cohort. We provide a unique spatiotemporal benchmark of fetal brain maturation from a large cohort with normative postnatal growth and neurodevelopment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana I L Namburete
- Oxford Machine Learning in Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Bartłomiej W Papież
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Michelle Fernandes
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, Human Development and Health Academic Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
- Oxford Maternal and Perinatal Health Institute, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Madeleine K Wyburd
- Oxford Machine Learning in Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Linde S Hesse
- Oxford Machine Learning in Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Felipe A Moser
- Oxford Machine Learning in Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Leila Cheikh Ismail
- Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
| | - Robert B Gunier
- Center for Environmental Research and Children's Health, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Waney Squier
- Department of Neuropathology, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK
| | - Eric O Ohuma
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Maternal, Adolescent, Reproductive and Child Health Centre, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Maria Carvalho
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Yasmin Jaffer
- Department of Family and Community Health, Ministry of Health, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
| | - Michael Gravett
- Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Qingqing Wu
- School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Ann Lambert
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Oxford Maternal and Perinatal Health Institute, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Adele Winsey
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Enrico Bertino
- Dipartimento di Scienze Pediatriche e dell' Adolescenza, SCDU Neonatologia, Universita di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Manorama Purwar
- Nagpur INTERGROWTH-21st Research Centre, Ketkar Hospital, Nagpur, India
| | - Fernando C Barros
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde e Comportamento, Universidade Católica de Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil
| | - Alan Stein
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- African Health Research Institute, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - J Alison Noble
- Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Zoltán Molnár
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Mark Jenkinson
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Australian Institute for Machine Learning, Department of Computer Science, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
- South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Zulfiqar A Bhutta
- Center for Global Child Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Aris T Papageorghiou
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Oxford Maternal and Perinatal Health Institute, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - José Villar
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Oxford Maternal and Perinatal Health Institute, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Stephen H Kennedy
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Oxford Maternal and Perinatal Health Institute, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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Ahmad E, Brumfield O, Masse O, Velasco-Annis C, Zhang J, Rollins CK, Connolly S, Barnewolt C, Shamshirsaz AA, Qaderi S, Javinani A, Warfield SK, Yang E, Gholipour A, Feldman HA, Estroff J, Grant PE, Vasung L. Atypical fetal brain development in fetuses with non-syndromic isolated musculoskeletal birth defects (niMSBDs). Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:10793-10801. [PMID: 37697904 PMCID: PMC10629896 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2023] [Revised: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/09/2023] [Indexed: 09/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Non-syndromic, isolated musculoskeletal birth defects (niMSBDs) are among the leading causes of pediatric hospitalization. However, little is known about brain development in niMSBDs. Our study aimed to characterize prenatal brain development in fetuses with niMSBDs and identify altered brain regions compared to controls. We retrospectively analyzed in vivo structural T2-weighted MRIs of 99 fetuses (48 controls and 51 niMSBDs cases). For each group (19-31 and >31 gestational weeks (GW)), we conducted repeated-measures regression analysis with relative regional volume (% brain hemisphere) as a dependent variable (adjusted for age, side, and interactions). Between 19 and 31GW, fetuses with niMSBDs had a significantly (P < 0.001) smaller relative volume of the intermediate zone (-22.9 ± 3.2%) and cerebellum (-16.1 ± 3.5%,) and a larger relative volume of proliferative zones (38.3 ± 7.2%), the ganglionic eminence (34.8 ± 7.3%), and the ventricles (35.8 ± 8.0%). Between 32 and 37 GW, compared to the controls, niMSBDs showed significantly smaller volumes of central regions (-9.1 ± 2.1%) and larger volumes of the cortical plate. Our results suggest there is altered brain development in fetuses with niMSBDs compared to controls (13.1 ± 4.2%). Further basic and translational neuroscience research is needed to better visualize these differences and to characterize the altered development in fetuses with specific niMSBDs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esha Ahmad
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Olivia Brumfield
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Olivia Masse
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Clemente Velasco-Annis
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Jennings Zhang
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Caitlin K Rollins
- Department of Neurology Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Susan Connolly
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
- Maternal Fetal Care Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Carol Barnewolt
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
- Maternal Fetal Care Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Alireza A Shamshirsaz
- Maternal Fetal Care Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Shohra Qaderi
- Maternal Fetal Care Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Ali Javinani
- Maternal Fetal Care Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Simon K Warfield
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Edward Yang
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Ali Gholipour
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Henry A Feldman
- Institutional Centers for Clinical and Translational Research, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Judy Estroff
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
- Maternal Fetal Care Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Patricia E Grant
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| | - Lana Vasung
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
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Matsuzawa N, Poon LC, Machida M, Nakamura T, Uenishi K, Wah YM, Moungmaithong S, Itakura A, Chiyo H, Pooh RK. Cat-Ear-Line: A Sonographic Sign of Cortical Development? JOURNAL OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE : OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE 2023; 42:1445-1457. [PMID: 36534508 DOI: 10.1002/jum.16153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2022] [Revised: 11/28/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Diagonal echogenic lines outside the lateral ventricle have often been observed in the anterior coronal planes of the normal fetal brain by neurosonography. We have observed abnormal shapes of these echogenic lines in cases of malformation of cortical development (MCD). We named the ultrasound finding "cat-ear-line" (CEL). This study aimed to examine how and when CEL develops in normal cases compared with MCD cases. METHODS We retrospectively examined the fetal brain volume dataset acquired through transvaginal 3D neurosonography of 575 control cases and 39 MCD cases from 2014 to 2020. We defined CEL as the hyperechogenic continuous lines through subplate (SP) and intermediate zone (IZ), pre-CEL as the lines that existed only within the SP, and abnormal CEL as a mass-like or mosaic shadow-like structure that existed across the SP and IZ. All fetuses in the MCD group had some neurosonographic abnormalities and were ultimately diagnosed with MCD. RESULTS The CEL was detected in 97.9% (369/377) of the control group from 19 to 30 weeks. The CEL visualization rate of the MCD group in the same period was 40.0% (14/35) which was significantly lower than that of the control group (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS From this study, it appears that the CEL is an ultrasound finding observed at and beyond 19 weeks in a normally developing fetus. In some MCD cases, pre-CEL at and beyond 19 weeks or abnormal CEL was observed. Maldeveloped CEL at mid-trimester may help identify cases at-risk of subsequent MCD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nana Matsuzawa
- Fetal Brain Center, CRIFM Prenatal Medical Clinic, Osaka, Japan
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Liona C Poon
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Megumi Machida
- Fetal Brain Center, CRIFM Prenatal Medical Clinic, Osaka, Japan
| | - Takako Nakamura
- Fetal Brain Center, CRIFM Prenatal Medical Clinic, Osaka, Japan
| | - Kohtaro Uenishi
- Fetal Brain Center, CRIFM Prenatal Medical Clinic, Osaka, Japan
| | - Yi Man Wah
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Sakita Moungmaithong
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Atsuo Itakura
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hideaki Chiyo
- Fetal Brain Center, CRIFM Prenatal Medical Clinic, Osaka, Japan
| | - Ritsuko K Pooh
- Fetal Brain Center, CRIFM Prenatal Medical Clinic, Osaka, Japan
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8
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De Asis-Cruz J, Limperopoulos C. Harnessing the Power of Advanced Fetal Neuroimaging to Understand In Utero Footprints for Later Neuropsychiatric Disorders. Biol Psychiatry 2022; 93:867-879. [PMID: 36804195 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.11.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2022] [Revised: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 11/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Adverse intrauterine events may profoundly impact fetal risk for future adult diseases. The mechanisms underlying this increased vulnerability are complex and remain poorly understood. Contemporary advances in fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have provided clinicians and scientists with unprecedented access to in vivo human fetal brain development to begin to identify emerging endophenotypes of neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and schizophrenia. In this review, we discuss salient findings of normal fetal neurodevelopment from studies using advanced, multimodal MRI that have provided unparalleled characterization of in utero prenatal brain morphology, metabolism, microstructure, and functional connectivity. We appraise the clinical utility of these normative data in identifying high-risk fetuses before birth. We highlight available studies that have investigated the predictive validity of advanced prenatal brain MRI findings and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. We then discuss how ex utero quantitative MRI findings can inform in utero investigations toward the pursuit of early biomarkers of risk. Lastly, we explore future opportunities to advance our understanding of the prenatal origins of neuropsychiatric disorders using precision fetal imaging.
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9
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Casingal CR, Descant KD, Anton ES. Coordinating cerebral cortical construction and connectivity: Unifying influence of radial progenitors. Neuron 2022; 110:1100-1115. [PMID: 35216663 PMCID: PMC8989671 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.01.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2021] [Revised: 10/15/2021] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Radial progenitor development and function lay the foundation for the construction of the cerebral cortex. Radial glial scaffold, through its functions as a source of neurogenic progenitors and neuronal migration guide, is thought to provide a template for the formation of the cerebral cortex. Emerging evidence is challenging this limited view. Intriguingly, radial glial scaffold may also play a role in axonal growth, guidance, and neuronal connectivity. Radial glial cells not only facilitate the generation, placement, and allocation of neurons in the cortex but also regulate how they wire up. The organization and function of radial glial cells may thus be a unifying feature of the developing cortex that helps to precisely coordinate the right patterns of neurogenesis, neuronal placement, and connectivity necessary for the emergence of a functional cerebral cortex. This perspective critically explores this emerging view and its impact in the context of human brain development and disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristine R Casingal
- UNC Neuroscience Center, the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Katherine D Descant
- UNC Neuroscience Center, the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - E S Anton
- UNC Neuroscience Center, the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
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10
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A diffusion MRI-based spatiotemporal continuum of the embryonic mouse brain for probing gene-neuroanatomy connections. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:2111869119. [PMID: 35165149 PMCID: PMC8851557 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2111869119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We established an ultra high-resolution diffusion MRI atlas of the embryonic mouse brains from E10.5 to E15.5, which characterizes the continuous changes of brain morphology and microstructures at mesoscopic scale. By integrating gene-expression data into the spatiotemporal continuum, we can navigate the evolving landscape of gene expression and neuroanatomy across both spatial and temporal dimensions to visualize their interactions in normal and abnormal embryonic brain development. We also identified regional clusters with distinct developmental trajectories and identified gene-expression profiles that matched to these regional domains. The diffusion MRI–based continuum of the embryonic brain and the computational techniques presented in this study offer a valuable tool for systematic study of the genetic control of brain development. The embryonic mouse brain undergoes drastic changes in establishing basic anatomical compartments and laying out major axonal connections of the developing brain. Correlating anatomical changes with gene-expression patterns is an essential step toward understanding the mechanisms regulating brain development. Traditionally, this is done in a cross-sectional manner, but the dynamic nature of development calls for probing gene–neuroanatomy interactions in a combined spatiotemporal domain. Here, we present a four-dimensional (4D) spatiotemporal continuum of the embryonic mouse brain from E10.5 to E15.5 reconstructed from diffusion magnetic resonance microscopy (dMRM) data. This study achieved unprecedented high-definition dMRM at 30- to 35-µm isotropic resolution, and together with computational neuroanatomy techniques, we revealed both morphological and microscopic changes in the developing brain. We transformed selected gene-expression data to this continuum and correlated them with the dMRM-based neuroanatomical changes in embryonic brains. Within the continuum, we identified distinct developmental modes comprising regional clusters that shared developmental trajectories and similar gene-expression profiles. Our results demonstrate how this 4D continuum can be used to examine spatiotemporal gene–neuroanatomical interactions by connecting upstream genetic events with anatomical changes that emerge later in development. This approach would be useful for large-scale analysis of the cooperative roles of key genes in shaping the developing brain.
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11
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Li X, Zhang S, Jiang X, Zhang S, Han J, Guo L, Zhang T. Cortical development coupling between surface area and sulcal depth on macaque brains. Brain Struct Funct 2022; 227:1013-1029. [PMID: 34989870 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02444-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2021] [Accepted: 12/15/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Postnatal development of cerebral cortex is associated with a variety of neuronal processes and is thus critical to development of brain function and cognition. Longitudinal changes of cortical morphology and topology, such as postnatal cortical thinning and flattening have been widely studied. However, thorough and systematic investigation of such cortical change, including how to quantify it from multiple spatial directions and how to relate it to surface topology, is rarely found. In this work, based on a longitudinal macaque neuroimaging dataset, we quantified local changes in gyral white matter's surface area and sulcal depth during early development. We also investigated how these two metrics are coupled and how this coupling is linked to cortical surface topology, underlying white matter, and positions of functional areas. Semi-parametric generalized additive models were adopted to quantify the longitudinal changes of surface area (A) and sulcal depth (D), and the coupling patterns between them. This resulted in four classes of regions, according to how they change compared with global change throughout early development: slower surface area change and slower sulcal depth change (slowA_slowD), slower surface area change and faster sulcal depth change (slowA_fastD), faster surface area change and slower sulcal depth change (fastA_slowD), and faster surface area change and faster sulcal depth change (fastA_fastD). We found that cortex-related metrics, including folding pattern and cortical thickness, vary along slowA_fastD-fastA_slowD axis, and structural connection-related metrics vary along fastA_fastD-slowA_slowD axis, with which brain functional sites align better. It is also found that cortical landmarks, including sulcal pits and gyral hinges, spatially reside on the borders of the four patterns. These findings shed new lights on the relationship between cortex development, surface topology, axonal wiring pattern and brain functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao Li
- School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Songyao Zhang
- School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Xi Jiang
- School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Shu Zhang
- School of Computer Science, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Junwei Han
- School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Lei Guo
- School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Tuo Zhang
- School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China.
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12
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Takahashi E, Allan N, Peres R, Ortug A, van der Kouwe AJW, Valli B, Ethier E, Levman J, Baumer N, Tsujimura K, Vargas-Maya NI, McCracken TA, Lee R, Maunakea AK. Integration of structural MRI and epigenetic analyses hint at linked cellular defects of the subventricular zone and insular cortex in autism: Findings from a case study. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:1023665. [PMID: 36817099 PMCID: PMC9935943 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1023665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interaction, communication and repetitive, restrictive behaviors, features supported by cortical activity. Given the importance of the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the lateral ventrical to cortical development, we compared molecular, cellular, and structural differences in the SVZ and linked cortical regions in specimens of ASD cases and sex and age-matched unaffected brain. Methods We used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tractography on ex vivo postmortem brain samples, which we further analyzed by Whole Genome Bisulfite Sequencing (WGBS), Flow Cytometry, and RT qPCR. Results Through MRI, we observed decreased tractography pathways from the dorsal SVZ, increased pathways from the posterior ventral SVZ to the insular cortex, and variable cortical thickness within the insular cortex in ASD diagnosed case relative to unaffected controls. Long-range tractography pathways from and to the insula were also reduced in the ASD case. FACS-based cell sorting revealed an increased population of proliferating cells in the SVZ of ASD case relative to the unaffected control. Targeted qPCR assays of SVZ tissue demonstrated significantly reduced expression levels of genes involved in differentiation and migration of neurons in ASD relative to the control counterpart. Finally, using genome-wide DNA methylation analyses, we identified 19 genes relevant to neurological development, function, and disease, 7 of which have not previously been described in ASD, that were significantly differentially methylated in autistic SVZ and insula specimens. Conclusion These findings suggest a hypothesis that epigenetic changes during neurodevelopment alter the trajectory of proliferation, migration, and differentiation in the SVZ, impacting cortical structure and function and resulting in ASD phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emi Takahashi
- Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, United States.,Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Nina Allan
- Epigenomics Research Program, Department of Anatomy, Institute for Biogenesis Research, Biochemistry and Physiology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, United States
| | - Rafael Peres
- Epigenomics Research Program, Department of Anatomy, Institute for Biogenesis Research, Biochemistry and Physiology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, United States
| | - Alpen Ortug
- Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, United States.,Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Andre J W van der Kouwe
- Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, United States.,Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Briana Valli
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Elizabeth Ethier
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Jacob Levman
- Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, United States.,Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.,Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS, Canada
| | - Nicole Baumer
- Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Keita Tsujimura
- Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, United States.,Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Nauru Idalia Vargas-Maya
- Epigenomics Research Program, Department of Anatomy, Institute for Biogenesis Research, Biochemistry and Physiology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, United States
| | - Trevor A McCracken
- Epigenomics Research Program, Department of Anatomy, Institute for Biogenesis Research, Biochemistry and Physiology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, United States
| | - Rosa Lee
- Epigenomics Research Program, Department of Anatomy, Institute for Biogenesis Research, Biochemistry and Physiology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, United States
| | - Alika K Maunakea
- Epigenomics Research Program, Department of Anatomy, Institute for Biogenesis Research, Biochemistry and Physiology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, United States
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13
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Choi JJ, Yang E, Soul JS, Jaimes C. Fetal magnetic resonance imaging: supratentorial brain malformations. Pediatr Radiol 2020; 50:1934-1947. [PMID: 33252760 DOI: 10.1007/s00247-020-04696-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2019] [Revised: 03/16/2020] [Accepted: 04/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Fetal MRI is the modality of choice to study supratentorial brain malformations. To accurately interpret the MRI, the radiologist needs to understand the normal sequence of events that occurs during prenatal brain development; this includes familiarity with the processes of hemispheric cleavage, formation of interhemispheric commissures, neuro-glial proliferation and migration, and cortical folding. Disruption of these processes results in malformations observed on fetal MRI including holoprosencephaly, callosal agenesis, heterotopic gray matter, lissencephaly and other malformations of cortical development (focal cortical dysplasia, polymicrogyria). The radiologist should also be familiar with findings that have high association with specific conditions affecting the central nervous system or other organ systems. This review summarizes and illustrates common patterns of supratentorial brain malformations and emphasizes aspects that are important to patient care.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jungwhan John Choi
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA, 02115, USA.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Edward Yang
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA, 02115, USA.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Janet S Soul
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Camilo Jaimes
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA, 02115, USA. .,Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. .,Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
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14
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Charvet CJ, Palani A, Kabaria P, Takahashi E. Evolution of Brain Connections: Integrating Diffusion MR Tractography With Gene Expression Highlights Increased Corticocortical Projections in Primates. Cereb Cortex 2020; 29:5150-5165. [PMID: 30927350 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhz054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2018] [Revised: 02/20/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Diffusion MR tractography permits investigating the 3D structure of cortical pathways as interwoven paths across the entire brain. We use high-resolution scans from diffusion spectrum imaging and high angular resolution diffusion imaging to investigate the evolution of cortical pathways within the euarchontoglire (i.e., primates, rodents) lineage. More specifically, we compare cortical fiber pathways between macaques (Macaca mulatta), marmosets (Callithrix jachus), and rodents (mice, Mus musculus). We integrate these observations with comparative analyses of Neurofilament heavy polypeptide (NEFH) expression across the cortex of mice and primates. We chose these species because their phylogenetic position serves to trace the early evolutionary history of the human brain. Our comparative analysis from diffusion MR tractography, cortical white matter scaling, and NEFH expression demonstrates that the examined primates deviate from mice in possessing increased long-range cross-cortical projections, many of which course across the anterior to posterior axis of the cortex. Our study shows that integrating gene expression data with diffusion MR data is an effective approach in identifying variation in connectivity patterns between species. The expansion of corticocortical pathways and increased anterior to posterior cortical integration can be traced back to an extension of neurogenetic schedules during development in primates.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Arthi Palani
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.,Medical Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Priya Kabaria
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.,Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Emi Takahashi
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA
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15
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Deleo F, Hong SJ, Fadaie F, Caldairou B, Krystal S, Bernasconi N, Bernasconi A. Whole-brain multimodal MRI phenotyping of periventricular nodular heterotopia. Neurology 2020; 95:e2418-e2426. [PMID: 32817185 DOI: 10.1212/wnl.0000000000010648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2020] [Accepted: 05/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that in periventricular nodular heterotopia (PVNH) structure and function of cortical areas overlying the heterotopic gray matter are preferentially affected. METHODS We studied a group of 40 patients with PVNH and normal-appearing cortex and compared their quantitative MRI markers of brain development, structure, and function to those of 43 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Inspired by models of neocortical development suggesting that neuronal migration follows a curvilinear path to preserve topologic correspondence between the outer ventricular zone and the cortical surface, we computationally defined the overlying cortex using the Laplace equation and generated synthetic streamlines that link the ventricles, where nodules are located, and the neocortex. RESULTS We found multilobar cortical thickening encompassing prefrontal, latero-basal temporal, and temporoparietal cortices largely corresponding with the PVNH group-averaged map of the overlying cortex, the latter colocalized with areas of abnormal function, as defined by resting-state fMRI. Patients also presented hippocampal functional hyperconnectivity and malrotation, the latter positively correlating with neocortical maldevelopment indexed by increased folding complexity of the parahippocampus. In clusters of thickness and curvature findings, there were no significant differences between unilateral and bilateral PVNH; contrasting brain-wide metrics between cohorts was also unrevealing. There was no relationship between imaging markers and disease duration except for positive correlation with functional anomalies. CONCLUSION Our quantitative image analysis demonstrates widespread structural and functional alterations in PVNH with differential interaction with the overlying cortex and the hippocampus. Right hemispheric predominance may be explained by an early insult, likely genetically determined, on brain morphogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Deleo
- From the Neuroimaging of Epilepsy Laboratory (F.D., S.-J.H., F.F., B.C., S.K., N.B., A.B.), Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and Epilepsy Unit (F.D.), Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy
| | - Seok-Jun Hong
- From the Neuroimaging of Epilepsy Laboratory (F.D., S.-J.H., F.F., B.C., S.K., N.B., A.B.), Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and Epilepsy Unit (F.D.), Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy
| | - Fatemeh Fadaie
- From the Neuroimaging of Epilepsy Laboratory (F.D., S.-J.H., F.F., B.C., S.K., N.B., A.B.), Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and Epilepsy Unit (F.D.), Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy
| | - Benoit Caldairou
- From the Neuroimaging of Epilepsy Laboratory (F.D., S.-J.H., F.F., B.C., S.K., N.B., A.B.), Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and Epilepsy Unit (F.D.), Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy
| | - Sidney Krystal
- From the Neuroimaging of Epilepsy Laboratory (F.D., S.-J.H., F.F., B.C., S.K., N.B., A.B.), Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and Epilepsy Unit (F.D.), Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy
| | - Neda Bernasconi
- From the Neuroimaging of Epilepsy Laboratory (F.D., S.-J.H., F.F., B.C., S.K., N.B., A.B.), Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and Epilepsy Unit (F.D.), Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy
| | - Andrea Bernasconi
- From the Neuroimaging of Epilepsy Laboratory (F.D., S.-J.H., F.F., B.C., S.K., N.B., A.B.), Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and Epilepsy Unit (F.D.), Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy.
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16
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Charvet CJ. Closing the gap from transcription to the structural connectome enhances the study of connections in the human brain. Dev Dyn 2020; 249:1047-1061. [PMID: 32562584 DOI: 10.1002/dvdy.218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2020] [Revised: 06/02/2020] [Accepted: 06/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The brain is composed of a complex web of networks but we have yet to map the structural connections of the human brain in detail. Diffusion MR imaging is a high-throughput method that relies on the principle of diffusion to reconstruct tracts (ie, pathways) across the brain. Although diffusion MR tractography is an exciting method to explore the structural connectivity of the brain in development and across species, the tractography has at times led to questionable interpretations. There are at present few if any alternative methods to trace structural pathways in the human brain. Given these limitations and the potential of diffusion MR imaging to map the human connectome, it is imperative that we develop new approaches to validate neuroimaging techniques. I discuss our recent studies integrating neuroimaging with transcriptional and anatomical variation across humans and other species over the course of development and in adulthood. Developing a novel framework to harness the potential of diffusion MR tractography provides new and exciting opportunities to study the evolution of developmental mechanisms generating variation in connections and bridge the gap between model systems to humans.
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17
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Jaimes C, Rofeberg V, Stopp C, Ortinau CM, Gholipour A, Friedman KG, Tworetzky W, Estroff J, Newburger JW, Wypij D, Warfield SK, Yang E, Rollins CK. Association of Isolated Congenital Heart Disease with Fetal Brain Maturation. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2020; 41:1525-1531. [PMID: 32646947 DOI: 10.3174/ajnr.a6635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2019] [Accepted: 04/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Brain MRI of newborns with congenital heart disease show signs of immaturity relative to healthy controls. Our aim was to determine whether the semiquantitative fetal total maturation score can detect abnormalities in brain maturation in fetuses with congenital heart disease in the second and third trimesters. MATERIALS AND METHODS We analyzed data from a prospective study of fetuses with and without congenital heart disease who underwent fetal MR imaging at 25-35 weeks' gestation. Two independent neuroradiologists blinded to the clinical data reviewed and scored all images using the fetal total maturation score. Interrater reliability was evaluated by the intraclass correlation coefficient using the individual reader scores, which were also used to calculate an average score for each subject. Comparisons of the average and individual reader scores between affected and control fetuses and relationships with clinical variables were evaluated using multivariable linear regression. RESULTS Data from 69 subjects (48 cardiac, 21 controls) were included. High concordance was observed between readers with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.98 (95% CI, 0.97-0.99). The affected group had significantly lower fetal total maturation scores than the control group (β-estimate, -0.9 [95% CI, -1.5 to -0.4], P = .002), adjusting for gestational age and sex. Averaged fetal total maturation, germinal matrix, myelination, and superior temporal sulcus scores were significantly delayed in fetuses with congenital heart disease versus controls (P < .05 for each). The fetal total maturation score was not significantly associated with any cardiac, anatomic, or physiologic variables. CONCLUSIONS The fetal total maturation score is sensitive to differences in brain maturation between fetuses with isolated congenital heart disease and healthy controls.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Jaimes
- From the Departments of Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Cardiology (V.R., C.S., K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center (C.J.), Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.,Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Pediatrics (K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - V Rofeberg
- From the Departments of Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Cardiology (V.R., C.S., K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center (C.J.), Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - C Stopp
- From the Departments of Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Cardiology (V.R., C.S., K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center (C.J.), Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - C M Ortinau
- Pediatrics (C.M.O.), Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
| | - A Gholipour
- From the Departments of Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Cardiology (V.R., C.S., K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center (C.J.), Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.,Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Pediatrics (K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - K G Friedman
- From the Departments of Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Cardiology (V.R., C.S., K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center (C.J.), Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.,Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Pediatrics (K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - W Tworetzky
- From the Departments of Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Cardiology (V.R., C.S., K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center (C.J.), Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.,Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Pediatrics (K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - J Estroff
- From the Departments of Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Cardiology (V.R., C.S., K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center (C.J.), Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.,Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Pediatrics (K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - J W Newburger
- From the Departments of Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Cardiology (V.R., C.S., K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center (C.J.), Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.,Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Pediatrics (K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - D Wypij
- From the Departments of Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Cardiology (V.R., C.S., K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center (C.J.), Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.,Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Pediatrics (K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.,Biostatistics (D.W.), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - S K Warfield
- From the Departments of Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Cardiology (V.R., C.S., K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center (C.J.), Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.,Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Pediatrics (K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - E Yang
- From the Departments of Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Cardiology (V.R., C.S., K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center (C.J.), Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.,Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Pediatrics (K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - C K Rollins
- From the Departments of Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Cardiology (V.R., C.S., K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center (C.J.), Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts .,Radiology (C.J., A.G., J.E., S.K.W., E.Y.), Pediatrics (K.G.F., W.T., J.W.N., D.W.), Neurology (C.K.R.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
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18
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Charvet CJ, Das A, Song JW, Tindal-Burgess DJ, Kabaria P, Dai G, Kane T, Takahashi E. High Angular Resolution Diffusion MRI Reveals Conserved and Deviant Programs in the Paths that Guide Human Cortical Circuitry. Cereb Cortex 2020; 30:1447-1464. [PMID: 31667494 PMCID: PMC7132938 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhz178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2019] [Revised: 06/13/2019] [Accepted: 07/10/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Diffusion magnetic resonance (MR) tractography represents a novel opportunity to investigate conserved and deviant developmental programs between humans and other species such as mice. To that end, we acquired high angular resolution diffusion MR scans of mice [embryonic day (E) 10.5 to postnatal week 4] and human brains [gestational week (GW) 17-30] at successive stages of fetal development to investigate potential evolutionary changes in radial organization and emerging pathways between humans and mice. We compare radial glial development as well as commissural development (e.g., corpus callosum), primarily because our findings can be integrated with previous work. We also compare corpus callosal growth trajectories across primates (i.e., humans and rhesus macaques) and rodents (i.e., mice). One major finding is that the developing cortex of humans is predominated by pathways likely associated with a radial glial organization at GW 17-20, which is not as evident in age-matched mice (E 16.5, 17.5). Another finding is that, early in development, the corpus callosum follows a similar developmental timetable in primates (i.e., macaques and humans) as in mice. However, the corpus callosum grows for an extended period of time in primates compared with rodents. Taken together, these findings highlight deviant developmental programs underlying the emergence of cortical pathways in the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Avilash Das
- Medical Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Fetal-Neonatal Brain Imaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Jae W Song
- Division of Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | | | - Priya Kabaria
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Guangping Dai
- Science Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA 02481, USA
| | - Tara Kane
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Emi Takahashi
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Fetal-Neonatal Brain Imaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
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19
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Abstract
Developmental pathoconnectomics is an emerging field that aims to unravel the events leading to and outcome from disrupted brain connectivity development. Advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology enables the portrayal of human brain connectivity before birth and has the potential to offer novel insights into normal and pathological human brain development. This review gives an overview of the currently used MRI techniques for connectomic imaging, with a particular focus on recent studies that have successfully translated these to the in utero or postmortem fetal setting. Possible mechanisms of how pathologies, maternal, or environmental factors may interfere with the emergence of the connectome are considered. The review highlights the importance of advanced image post processing and the need for reproducibility studies for connectomic imaging. Further work and novel data-sharing efforts would be required to validate or disprove recent observations from in utero connectomic studies, which are typically limited by low case numbers and high data drop out. Novel knowledge with regard to the ontogenesis, architecture, and temporal dynamics of the human brain connectome would lead to the more precise understanding of the etiological background of neurodevelopmental and mental disorders. To achieve this goal, this review considers the growing evidence from advanced fetal connectomic imaging for the increased vulnerability of the human brain during late gestation for pathologies that might lead to impaired connectome development and subsequently interfere with the development of neural substrates serving higher cognition.
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20
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Vontell R, Supramaniam VG, Davidson A, Thornton C, Marnerides A, Holder-Espinasse M, Lillis S, Yau S, Jansson M, Hagberg HE, Rutherford MA. Post-mortem Characterisation of a Case With an ACTG1 Variant, Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum and Neuronal Heterotopia. Front Physiol 2019; 10:623. [PMID: 31231230 PMCID: PMC6558385 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2018] [Accepted: 05/02/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Cytoplasmic Actin Gamma 1 (ACTG1) gene variant are autosomal dominant and can cause CNS anomalies (Baraitser Winter Malformation Syndrome; BWMS). ACTG1 anomalies in offspring include agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC) and neuronal heterotopia which are ectopic nodules of nerve cells that failed to migrate appropriately. Subcortical and periventricular neuronal heterotopia have been described previously in association with ACC. In this case report, we investigated a neonatal brain with an ACTG1 gene variant and a phenotype of ACC, and neuronal heterotopia (ACC-H) which was diagnosed on antenatal MR imaging and was consistent with band heterotopia seen on post-mortem brain images. Histologically clusters of neurons were seen in both the subcortical and periventricular white matter (PVWM) brain region that coincided with impaired abnormalities in glial formation. Immunohistochemistry was performed on paraffin-embedded brain tissue blocks from this case with ACTG1 variant and an age-matched control. Using tissue sections from the frontal lobe, we examined the distribution of neuronal cells (HuC/HuD, calretinin, and parvalbumin), growth cone (drebrin), and synaptic proteins (synaptophysin and SNAP-25). Additionally, we investigated how the ACTG1 variant altered astroglia (nestin, GFAP, vimentin); oligodendroglia (OLIG2) and microglia (Iba-1) in the corpus callosum, cortex, caudal ganglionic eminence, and PVWM. As predicted in the ACTG1 variant case, we found a lack of midline radial glia and glutamatergic fibers. We also found disturbances in the cortical region, in glial cells and a lack of extracellular matrix components in the ACTG1 variant. The caudal ganglionic eminence and the PVWM regions in the ACTG1 variant lacked several cellular components that were identified in a control case. Within the neuronal heterotopia, we found evidence of glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons with apparent synaptic connections. The data presented from this case study with BWMS with variants in the ACTG1 gene provides insight as to the composition of neuronal heterotopia, and how disturbances of important migratory signals may dramatically affect ongoing brain development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Regina Vontell
- Centre for the Developing Brain, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King’s College London, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Neurology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, United States
| | - Veena G. Supramaniam
- Centre for the Developing Brain, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King’s College London, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Alice Davidson
- Centre for the Developing Brain, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King’s College London, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Claire Thornton
- Centre for the Developing Brain, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King’s College London, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, London, United Kingdom
| | - Andreas Marnerides
- Department of Cellular Pathology, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Muriel Holder-Espinasse
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Guy’s Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Suzanne Lillis
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Guy’s Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Shu Yau
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Guy’s Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Mattias Jansson
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Guy’s Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Henrik E. Hagberg
- Centre for the Developing Brain, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King’s College London, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, United Kingdom
- Perinatal Center, Department of Physiology and Neuroscience – Department of Clinical Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Mary A. Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King’s College London, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, United Kingdom
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21
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Abstract
At the end of the target article, Keven & Akins (K&A) put forward a challenge to the developmental psychology community to consider the development of complex psychological processes - in particular, intermodal infant perception - across different levels of analysis. We take up that challenge and consider the possibility that early emerging stereotypies might help explain the foundations of the link between speech perception and speech production.
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22
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Vasung L, Abaci Turk E, Ferradal SL, Sutin J, Stout JN, Ahtam B, Lin PY, Grant PE. Exploring early human brain development with structural and physiological neuroimaging. Neuroimage 2019; 187:226-254. [PMID: 30041061 PMCID: PMC6537870 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.07.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2017] [Revised: 07/16/2018] [Accepted: 07/16/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Early brain development, from the embryonic period to infancy, is characterized by rapid structural and functional changes. These changes can be studied using structural and physiological neuroimaging methods. In order to optimally acquire and accurately interpret this data, concepts from adult neuroimaging cannot be directly transferred. Instead, one must have a basic understanding of fetal and neonatal structural and physiological brain development, and the important modulators of this process. Here, we first review the major developmental milestones of transient cerebral structures and structural connectivity (axonal connectivity) followed by a summary of the contributions from ex vivo and in vivo MRI. Next, we discuss the basic biology of neuronal circuitry development (synaptic connectivity, i.e. ensemble of direct chemical and electrical connections between neurons), physiology of neurovascular coupling, baseline metabolic needs of the fetus and the infant, and functional connectivity (defined as statistical dependence of low-frequency spontaneous fluctuations seen with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)). The complementary roles of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) are discussed. We include a section on modulators of brain development where we focus on the placenta and emerging placental MRI approaches. In each section we discuss key technical limitations of the imaging modalities and some of the limitations arising due to the biology of the system. Although neuroimaging approaches have contributed significantly to our understanding of early brain development, there is much yet to be done and a dire need for technical innovations and scientific discoveries to realize the future potential of early fetal and infant interventions to avert long term disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lana Vasung
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Esra Abaci Turk
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Silvina L Ferradal
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Jason Sutin
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Jeffrey N Stout
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Banu Ahtam
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Pei-Yi Lin
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - P Ellen Grant
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
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23
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Khan S, Vasung L, Marami B, Rollins CK, Afacan O, Ortinau CM, Yang E, Warfield SK, Gholipour A. Fetal brain growth portrayed by a spatiotemporal diffusion tensor MRI atlas computed from in utero images. Neuroimage 2019; 185:593-608. [PMID: 30172006 PMCID: PMC6289660 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.08.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2017] [Revised: 07/31/2018] [Accepted: 08/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Altered structural fetal brain development has been linked to neuro-developmental disorders. These structural alterations can be potentially detected in utero using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). However, acquisition and reconstruction of in utero fetal brain DTI remains challenging. Until now, motion-robust DTI methods have been employed for reconstruction of in utero fetal DTIs. However, due to the unconstrained fetal motion and permissible in utero acquisition times, these methods yielded limited success and have typically resulted in noisy DTIs. Consequently, atlases and methods that could enable groupwise studies, multi-modality imaging, and computer-aided diagnosis from in utero DTIs have not yet been developed. This paper presents the first DTI atlas of the fetal brain computed from in utero diffusion-weighted images. For this purpose an algorithm for computing an unbiased spatiotemporal DTI atlas, which integrates kernel-regression in age with a diffeomorphic tensor-to-tensor registration of motion-corrected and reconstructed individual fetal brain DTIs, was developed. Our new algorithm was applied to a set of 67 fetal DTI scans acquired from healthy fetuses each scanned at a gestational age between 21 and 39 weeks. The neurodevelopmental trends in the fetal brain, characterized by the atlas, were qualitatively and quantitatively compared with the observations reported in prior ex vivo and in utero studies, and with results from imaging gestational-age equivalent preterm infants. Our major findings revealed early presence of limbic fiber bundles, followed by the appearance and maturation of projection pathways (characterized by an age related increase in FA) during late 2nd and early 3rd trimesters. During the 3rd trimester association fiber bundles become evident. In parallel with the appearance and maturation of fiber bundles, from 21 to 39 gestational weeks gradual disappearance of the radial coherence of the telencephalic wall was qualitatively identified. These results and analyses show that our DTI atlas of the fetal brain is useful for reliable detection of major neuronal fiber bundle pathways and for characterization of the fetal brain reorganization that occurs in utero. The atlas can also serve as a useful resource for detection of normal and abnormal fetal brain development in utero.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shadab Khan
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Lana Vasung
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Bahram Marami
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Caitlin K Rollins
- Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Onur Afacan
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Cynthia M Ortinau
- Department of Pediatrics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Edward Yang
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Simon K Warfield
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ali Gholipour
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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24
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Kostović I, Sedmak G, Judaš M. Neural histology and neurogenesis of the human fetal and infant brain. Neuroimage 2018; 188:743-773. [PMID: 30594683 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.12.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2017] [Revised: 12/18/2018] [Accepted: 12/20/2018] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
The human brain develops slowly and over a long period of time which lasts for almost three decades. This enables good spatio-temporal resolution of histogenetic and neurogenetic events as well as an appropriate and clinically relevant timing of these events. In order to successfully apply in vivo neuroimaging data, in analyzing both the normal brain development and the neurodevelopmental origin of major neurological and mental disorders, it is important to correlate these neuroimaging data with the existing data on morphogenetic, histogenetic and neurogenetic events. Furthermore, when performing such correlation, the genetic, genomic, and molecular biology data on phenotypic specification of developing brain regions, areas and neurons should also be included. In this review, we focus on early developmental periods (form 8 postconceptional weeks to the second postnatal year) and describe the microstructural organization and neural circuitry elements of the fetal and early postnatal human cerebrum.
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Affiliation(s)
- I Kostović
- University of Zagreb School of Medicine, Croatian Institute for Brain Research, Centre of Excellence for Basic, Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, Šalata 12, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia.
| | - G Sedmak
- University of Zagreb School of Medicine, Croatian Institute for Brain Research, Centre of Excellence for Basic, Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, Šalata 12, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia.
| | - M Judaš
- University of Zagreb School of Medicine, Croatian Institute for Brain Research, Centre of Excellence for Basic, Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, Šalata 12, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia.
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25
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Jones DK, Alexander DC, Bowtell R, Cercignani M, Dell'Acqua F, McHugh DJ, Miller KL, Palombo M, Parker GJM, Rudrapatna US, Tax CMW. Microstructural imaging of the human brain with a 'super-scanner': 10 key advantages of ultra-strong gradients for diffusion MRI. Neuroimage 2018; 182:8-38. [PMID: 29793061 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.05.047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2017] [Revised: 05/17/2018] [Accepted: 05/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The key component of a microstructural diffusion MRI 'super-scanner' is a dedicated high-strength gradient system that enables stronger diffusion weightings per unit time compared to conventional gradient designs. This can, in turn, drastically shorten the time needed for diffusion encoding, increase the signal-to-noise ratio, and facilitate measurements at shorter diffusion times. This review, written from the perspective of the UK National Facility for In Vivo MR Imaging of Human Tissue Microstructure, an initiative to establish a shared 300 mT/m-gradient facility amongst the microstructural imaging community, describes ten advantages of ultra-strong gradients for microstructural imaging. Specifically, we will discuss how the increase of the accessible measurement space compared to a lower-gradient systems (in terms of Δ, b-value, and TE) can accelerate developments in the areas of 1) axon diameter distribution mapping; 2) microstructural parameter estimation; 3) mapping micro-vs macroscopic anisotropy features with gradient waveforms beyond a single pair of pulsed-gradients; 4) multi-contrast experiments, e.g. diffusion-relaxometry; 5) tractography and high-resolution imaging in vivo and 6) post mortem; 7) diffusion-weighted spectroscopy of metabolites other than water; 8) tumour characterisation; 9) functional diffusion MRI; and 10) quality enhancement of images acquired on lower-gradient systems. We finally discuss practical barriers in the use of ultra-strong gradients, and provide an outlook on the next generation of 'super-scanners'.
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Affiliation(s)
- D K Jones
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK; School of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3065, Australia.
| | - D C Alexander
- Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC), Department of Computer Science, UCL (University College London), Gower Street, London, UK; Clinical Imaging Research Centre, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - R Bowtell
- Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK
| | - M Cercignani
- Department of Psychiatry, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK
| | - F Dell'Acqua
- Natbrainlab, Department of Neuroimaging, King's College London, London, UK
| | - D J McHugh
- Division of Informatics, Imaging and Data Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; CRUK and EPSRC Cancer Imaging Centre in Cambridge and Manchester, Cambridge and Manchester, UK
| | - K L Miller
- Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - M Palombo
- Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC), Department of Computer Science, UCL (University College London), Gower Street, London, UK
| | - G J M Parker
- Division of Informatics, Imaging and Data Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; CRUK and EPSRC Cancer Imaging Centre in Cambridge and Manchester, Cambridge and Manchester, UK; Bioxydyn Ltd., Manchester, UK
| | - U S Rudrapatna
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK
| | - C M W Tax
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK
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26
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Zhang Y, Shi J, Wei H, Han V, Zhu WZ, Liu C. Neonate and infant brain development from birth to 2 years assessed using MRI-based quantitative susceptibility mapping. Neuroimage 2018; 185:349-360. [PMID: 30315906 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.10.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2018] [Revised: 09/10/2018] [Accepted: 10/09/2018] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The human brain rapidly develops during the first two years following birth. Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) provides information of iron and myelin variations. It is considered to be a valuable tool for studying brain development in early life. In the present work, QSM is performed on neonates, 1-year and 2-year old infants, as well as a group of adults for the purpose of reference. Age-specific templates representing common brain structures are built for each age group. The neonate and infant QSM templates have shown some unique findings compared to conventional T1w and T2w imaging techniques. The contrast between the gray and white matters on the QSM images did not change through brain development from neonate to adult. A linear correlation was found between brain myelination determined in this study and the microscopic myelin degree determined by a previous autopsy study. Also, the magnetic susceptibility values of the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) exhibit a gradually decreasing trend from birth to 2 years old and to adulthood. The findings suggest that the macromolecular content, myelin, and iron may play the most important contributing factors for the magnetic susceptibility of neonate and infant brain. QSM can be a powerful means to study early brain development and related pathologies that involve alterations in macromolecular content, iron, or brain myelination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuyao Zhang
- School of Information and Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jingjing Shi
- Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Hongjiang Wei
- Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Victor Han
- Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Wen-Zhen Zhu
- Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
| | - Chunlei Liu
- Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA; Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA.
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27
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Das A, Takahashi E. Neuronal Migration and Axonal Pathways Linked to Human Fetal Insular Development Revealed by Diffusion MR Tractography. Cereb Cortex 2018; 28:3555-3563. [PMID: 28968767 PMCID: PMC6132279 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhx224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2017] [Revised: 08/03/2017] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The insula is a multimodal sensory integration structure that, in addition to serving as a gateway between somatosensory areas and limbic structures, plays a crucial role in autonomic nervous system function. While anatomical studies following the development of the insula have been conducted, currently, no studies have been published in human fetuses tracking the development of neuronal migration or of white matter tracts in the cortex. In this study, we aimed to follow the neuronal migration and subsequent maturation of axons in and around the insula in human fetal ages. Using high-angular resolution diffusion magnetic resonance imaging tractography, major white matter pathways to/from the insula and its surrounding operculum were identified at a number of time points during human gestation. Pathways likely linked to neuronal migration from the ventricular zone to the inferior frontal gyrus, superior temporal region, and the insular cortex were detected in the earliest gestational age studied (15 GW). Tractography reveals neuronal migration to areas surrounding the insula occurred at different time points. These results, in addition to demonstrating key time points for neuronal migration, suggest that neurons and axonal fiber pathways underlying the insula and its surrounding gyri mature differentially despite their relationship during cortical folding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Avilash Das
- Boston University School of Medicine, 72 E Concord St, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 1 Autumn St, Boston, MA, USA
- Fetal-Neonatal Brain Imaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 1 Autumn St, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Emi Takahashi
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 1 Autumn St, Boston, MA, USA
- Fetal-Neonatal Brain Imaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 1 Autumn St, Boston, MA, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 149 13th St, Charlestown, MA, USA
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28
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Ouyang M, Dubois J, Yu Q, Mukherjee P, Huang H. Delineation of early brain development from fetuses to infants with diffusion MRI and beyond. Neuroimage 2018; 185:836-850. [PMID: 29655938 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.04.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 135] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2017] [Revised: 04/01/2018] [Accepted: 04/08/2018] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Dynamic macrostructural and microstructural changes take place from the mid-fetal stage to 2 years after birth. Delineating structural changes of the brain during early development provides new insights into the complicated processes of both typical development and the pathological mechanisms underlying various psychiatric and neurological disorders including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia. Decades of histological studies have identified strong spatial and functional maturation gradients in human brain gray and white matter. The recent improvements in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, especially diffusion MRI (dMRI), relaxometry imaging, and magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) have provided unprecedented opportunities to non-invasively quantify and map the early developmental changes at whole brain and regional levels. Here, we review the recent advances in understanding early brain structural development during the second half of gestation and the first two postnatal years using modern MR techniques. Specifically, we review studies that delineate the emergence and microstructural maturation of white matter tracts, as well as dynamic mapping of inhomogeneous cortical microstructural organization unique to fetuses and infants. These imaging studies converge into maturational curves of MRI measurements that are distinctive across different white matter tracts and cortical regions. Furthermore, contemporary models offering biophysical interpretations of the dMRI-derived measurements are illustrated to infer the underlying microstructural changes. Collectively, this review summarizes findings that contribute to charting spatiotemporally heterogeneous gray and white matter structural development, offering MRI-based biomarkers of typical brain development and setting the stage for understanding aberrant brain development in neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minhui Ouyang
- Radiology Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Jessica Dubois
- INSERM, UMR992, CEA, NeuroSpin Center, University Paris Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Qinlin Yu
- Radiology Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Pratik Mukherjee
- Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Hao Huang
- Radiology Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, PA, United States; Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, PA, United States.
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Wilkinson M, Kane T, Wang R, Takahashi E. Migration Pathways of Thalamic Neurons and Development of Thalamocortical Connections in Humans Revealed by Diffusion MR Tractography. Cereb Cortex 2017; 27:5683-5695. [PMID: 27913428 PMCID: PMC6075593 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2016] [Revised: 09/28/2016] [Accepted: 10/19/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The thalamus plays an important role in signal relays in the brain, with thalamocortical (TC) neuronal pathways linked to various sensory/cognitive functions. In this study, we aimed to see fetal and postnatal development of the thalamus including neuronal migration to the thalamus and the emergence/maturation of the TC pathways. Pathways from/to the thalami of human postmortem fetuses and in vivo subjects ranging from newborns to adults with no neurological histories were studied using high angular resolution diffusion MR imaging (HARDI) tractography. Pathways likely linked to neuronal migration from the ventricular zone and ganglionic eminence (GE) to the thalami were both successfully detected. Between the ventricular zone and thalami, more tractography pathways were found in anterior compared with posterior regions, which was well in agreement with postnatal observations that the anterior TC segment had more tract count and volume than the posterior segment. Three different pathways likely linked to neuronal migration from the GE to the thalami were detected. No hemispheric asymmetry of the TC pathways was quantitatively observed during development. These results suggest that HARDI tractography is useful to identify multiple differential neuronal migration pathways in human brains, and regional differences in brain development in fetal ages persisted in postnatal development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Molly Wilkinson
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Tara Kane
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Rongpin Wang
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Radiology, Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital, 83 Zhong Shan Dong Lu, Guiyang, Guizhou Province550002, P.R. China
| | - Emi Takahashi
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02219, USA
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Jakab A, Tuura R, Kellenberger C, Scheer I. In utero diffusion tensor imaging of the fetal brain: A reproducibility study. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2017; 15:601-612. [PMID: 28652972 PMCID: PMC5477067 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2017.06.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2016] [Revised: 01/25/2017] [Accepted: 06/08/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Our purpose was to evaluate the within-subject reproducibility of in utero diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics and the visibility of major white matter structures. Images for 30 fetuses (20-33. postmenstrual weeks, normal neurodevelopment: 6 cases, cerebral pathology: 24 cases) were acquired on 1.5 T or 3.0 T MRI. DTI with 15 diffusion-weighting directions was repeated three times for each case, TR/TE: 2200/63 ms, voxel size: 1 ∗ 1 mm, slice thickness: 3-5 mm, b-factor: 700 s/mm2. Reproducibility was evaluated from structure detectability, variability of DTI measures using the coefficient of variation (CV), image correlation and structural similarity across repeated scans for six selected structures. The effect of age, scanner type, presence of pathology was determined using Wilcoxon rank sum test. White matter structures were detectable in the following percentage of fetuses in at least two of the three repeated scans: corpus callosum genu 76%, splenium 64%, internal capsule, posterior limb 60%, brainstem fibers 40% and temporooccipital association pathways 60%. The mean CV of DTI metrics ranged between 3% and 14.6% and we measured higher reproducibility in fetuses with normal brain development. Head motion was negatively correlated with reproducibility, this effect was partially ameliorated by motion-correction algorithm using image registration. Structures on 3.0 T had higher variability both with- and without motion correction. Fetal DTI is reproducible for projection and commissural bundles during mid-gestation, however, in 16-30% of the cases, data were corrupted by artifacts, resulting in impaired detection of white matter structures. To achieve robust results for the quantitative analysis of diffusivity and anisotropy values, fetal-specific image processing is recommended and repeated DTI is needed to ensure the detectability of fiber pathways.
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Key Words
- AD, axial diffusivity
- CCA, corpus callosum agenesis
- CV, coefficient of variation
- Connectome
- DTI, diffusion tensor imaging
- Diffusion tensor imaging
- FA, fractional anisotropy
- Fetal brain connectivity
- Fetal diffusion MRI
- GW, gestational week
- MD, mean diffusivity
- Prenatal development
- RD, radial diffusivity
- ROI, region of interest
- SSIM, structural similarity index
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Affiliation(s)
- András Jakab
- Center for MR-Research, University Children's Hospital, Zürich, Switzerland; Computational Imaging Research Lab (CIR), Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Ruth Tuura
- Center for MR-Research, University Children's Hospital, Zürich, Switzerland
| | | | - Ianina Scheer
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, University Children's Hospital, Zürich, Switzerland
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Mahmoudzadeh M, Wallois F, Kongolo G, Goudjil S, Dehaene-Lambertz G. Functional Maps at the Onset of Auditory Inputs in Very Early Preterm Human Neonates. Cereb Cortex 2017; 27:2500-2512. [PMID: 27102655 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
During the last trimester of human gestation, neurons reach their final destination and establish long- and short-distance connections. Due to the difficulties obtaining functional data at this age, the characteristics of the functional architecture at the onset of sensory thalamocortical connectivity in humans remain largely unknown. In particular, it is unknown to what extent responses evoked by an external stimulus are general or already sensitive to certain stimuli. In the present study, we recorded high-density event-related potentials (ERPs) in 19 neonates, tested ten weeks before term (28-32 weeks gestational age (wGA), that is, at an average age of 30 wGA) by means of a syllable discrimination task (i.e., a phonetic change: ba vs. ga; and a voice change: male vs. female voice). We first observed that the syllables elicited 4 peaks with distinct topographies implying a progression of the sensory input along a processing hierarchy; second, repetition induced a decrease in the amplitude (repetition suppression) of these peaks, but their latencies and topographies remained stable; and third, a change of stimulus generated mismatch responses, which were more precisely time-locked to event onset in the case of a phonetic change than in the case of a voice change. A hierarchical and parallel functional architecture is therefore able to process environmental sounds in a timely precise fashion, well before term birth. This elaborate functional architecture at the onset of extrinsic neural activity suggests that specialized areas weakly dependent on the environment are present in the perisylvian region as part of the genetic endowment of the human species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahdi Mahmoudzadeh
- INSERM, U1105, GRAMFC, Université de Picardie, CHU Nord, Amiens F80000, France
| | - Fabrice Wallois
- INSERM, U1105, GRAMFC, Université de Picardie, CHU Nord, Amiens F80000, France
| | - Guy Kongolo
- INSERM, U1105, GRAMFC, Université de Picardie, CHU Nord, Amiens F80000, France
| | - Sabrina Goudjil
- INSERM, U1105, GRAMFC, Université de Picardie, CHU Nord, Amiens F80000, France
| | - Ghislaine Dehaene-Lambertz
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CEA DSV/I2BM, INSERM, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, Gif/Yvette 91191, France
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Marami B, Mohseni Salehi SS, Afacan O, Scherrer B, Rollins CK, Yang E, Estroff JA, Warfield SK, Gholipour A. Temporal slice registration and robust diffusion-tensor reconstruction for improved fetal brain structural connectivity analysis. Neuroimage 2017; 156:475-488. [PMID: 28433624 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.04.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2017] [Accepted: 04/14/2017] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging, or DWI, is one of the most promising tools for the analysis of neural microstructure and the structural connectome of the human brain. The application of DWI to map early development of the human connectome in-utero, however, is challenged by intermittent fetal and maternal motion that disrupts the spatial correspondence of data acquired in the relatively long DWI acquisitions. Fetuses move continuously during DWI scans. Reliable and accurate analysis of the fetal brain structural connectome requires careful compensation of motion effects and robust reconstruction to avoid introducing bias based on the degree of fetal motion. In this paper we introduce a novel robust algorithm to reconstruct in-vivo diffusion-tensor MRI (DTI) of the moving fetal brain and show its effect on structural connectivity analysis. The proposed algorithm involves multiple steps of image registration incorporating a dynamic registration-based motion tracking algorithm to restore the spatial correspondence of DWI data at the slice level and reconstruct DTI of the fetal brain in the standard (atlas) coordinate space. A weighted linear least squares approach is adapted to remove the effect of intra-slice motion and reconstruct DTI from motion-corrected data. The proposed algorithm was tested on data obtained from 21 healthy fetuses scanned in-utero at 22-38 weeks gestation. Significantly higher fractional anisotropy values in fiber-rich regions, and the analysis of whole-brain tractography and group structural connectivity, showed the efficacy of the proposed method compared to the analyses based on original data and previously proposed methods. The results of this study show that slice-level motion correction and robust reconstruction is necessary for reliable in-vivo structural connectivity analysis of the fetal brain. Connectivity analysis based on graph theoretic measures show high degree of modularity and clustering, and short average characteristic path lengths indicative of small-worldness property of the fetal brain network. These findings comply with previous findings in newborns and a recent study on fetuses. The proposed algorithm can provide valuable information from DWI of the fetal brain not available in the assessment of the original 2D slices and may be used to more reliably study the developing fetal brain connectome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bahram Marami
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Seyed Sadegh Mohseni Salehi
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Electrical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Onur Afacan
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Benoit Scherrer
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Caitlin K Rollins
- Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Edward Yang
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Judy A Estroff
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Simon K Warfield
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ali Gholipour
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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A normative spatiotemporal MRI atlas of the fetal brain for automatic segmentation and analysis of early brain growth. Sci Rep 2017; 7:476. [PMID: 28352082 PMCID: PMC5428658 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-00525-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 156] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2016] [Accepted: 03/01/2017] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Longitudinal characterization of early brain growth in-utero has been limited by a number of challenges in fetal imaging, the rapid change in size, shape and volume of the developing brain, and the consequent lack of suitable algorithms for fetal brain image analysis. There is a need for an improved digital brain atlas of the spatiotemporal maturation of the fetal brain extending over the key developmental periods. We have developed an algorithm for construction of an unbiased four-dimensional atlas of the developing fetal brain by integrating symmetric diffeomorphic deformable registration in space with kernel regression in age. We applied this new algorithm to construct a spatiotemporal atlas from MRI of 81 normal fetuses scanned between 19 and 39 weeks of gestation and labeled the structures of the developing brain. We evaluated the use of this atlas and additional individual fetal brain MRI atlases for completely automatic multi-atlas segmentation of fetal brain MRI. The atlas is available online as a reference for anatomy and for registration and segmentation, to aid in connectivity analysis, and for groupwise and longitudinal analysis of early brain growth.
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35
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Shinji M. Peripheral Circumferential Chorioretinal Atrophy in a Patient with Alagille Syndrome. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016. [DOI: 10.17352/2455-8702.000026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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36
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Shi J, Chang L, Wang J, Zhang S, Yao Y, Zhang S, Jiang R, Guo L, Guan H, Zhu W. Initial Application of Diffusional Kurtosis Imaging in Evaluating Brain Development of Healthy Preterm Infants. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0154146. [PMID: 27101246 PMCID: PMC4839617 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2015] [Accepted: 04/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective To explore the parametric characteristics of diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) in the brain development of healthy preterm infants. Materials and Methods Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and DKI were performed in 35 preterm (29 to 36 weeks gestational age [GA]; scanned at 33 to 44 weeks postmenstrual age [PMA]) and 10 term infants (37.4 to 40.7 weeks GA; scanned at 38.3 to 42.9 weeks PMA). Fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD) and mean kurtosis (MK) values from 8 regions of interest, including both white matter (WM) and gray matter (GM), were obtained. Results MK and FA values were positively correlated with PMA in most selected WM regions, such as the posterior limbs of the internal capsule (PLIC) and the splenium of the corpus callosum (SCC). The positive correlation between MK value and PMA in the deep GM region was higher than that between FA and PMA. The MK value gradually decreased from the PLIC to the cerebral lobe. In addition, DKI parameters exhibited subtle differences in the parietal WM between the preterm and term control groups. Conclusions MK may serve as a more reliable imaging marker of the normal myelination process and provide a more robust characterization of deep GM maturation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingjing Shi
- Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Liwen Chang
- Department ofneonatology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Jian Wang
- Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Shun Zhang
- Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Yihao Yao
- Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Shuixia Zhang
- Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Rifeng Jiang
- Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Linying Guo
- Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Hanxiong Guan
- Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
- * E-mail: (HXG); (WZZ)
| | - Wenzhen Zhu
- Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
- * E-mail: (HXG); (WZZ)
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Cusack R, Ball G, Smyser CD, Dehaene-Lambertz G. A neural window on the emergence of cognition. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2016; 1369:7-23. [PMID: 27164193 PMCID: PMC4874873 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2015] [Revised: 01/23/2016] [Accepted: 02/11/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Can babies think? A fundamental challenge for cognitive neuroscience is to answer when brain functions begin and in what form they first emerge. This is challenging with behavioral tasks, as it is difficult to communicate to an infant what a task requires, and motor function is impoverished, making execution of the appropriate response difficult. To circumvent these requirements, neuroimaging provides a complementary route for assessing the emergence of cognition. Starting from the prerequisites of cognitive function and building stepwise, we review when the cortex forms and when it becomes gyrated and regionally differentiated. We then discuss when white matter tracts mature and when functional brain networks arise. Finally, we assess the responsiveness of these brain systems to external events. We find that many cognitive systems are observed surprisingly early. Some emerge before birth, with activations in the frontal lobe even in the first months of gestation. These discoveries are changing our understanding of the nature of cognitive networks and their early function, transforming cognitive neuroscience, and opening new windows for education and investigation. Infant neuroimaging also has tremendous clinical potential, for both detecting atypical development and facilitating earlier intervention. Finally, we discuss the key technical developments that are enabling this nascent field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rhodri Cusack
- Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Gareth Ball
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher D. Smyser
- Departments of Neurology, Pediatrics and Radiology, Washington University, St Louis, Missouri
| | - Ghislaine Dehaene-Lambertz
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CEA DSV/I2BM, INSERM, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, Gif/Yvette, France
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38
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Miyazaki Y, Song JW, Takahashi E. Asymmetry of Radial and Symmetry of Tangential Neuronal Migration Pathways in Developing Human Fetal Brains. Front Neuroanat 2016; 10:2. [PMID: 26834572 PMCID: PMC4724714 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2016.00002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2015] [Accepted: 01/02/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The radial and tangential neural migration pathways are two major neuronal migration streams in humans that are critical during corticogenesis. Corticogenesis is a complex process of neuronal proliferation that is followed by neuronal migration and the formation of axonal connections. Existing histological assessments of these two neuronal migration pathways have limitations inherent to microscopic studies and are confined to small anatomic regions of interest (ROIs). Thus, little evidence is available about their three-dimensional (3-D) fiber pathways and development throughout the entire brain. In this study, we imaged and analyzed radial and tangential migration pathways in the whole human brain using high-angular resolution diffusion MR imaging (HARDI) tractography. We imaged ten fixed, postmortem fetal (17 gestational weeks (GW), 18 GW, 19 GW, three 20 GW, three 21 GW and 22 GW) and eight in vivo newborn (two 30 GW, 34 GW, 35 GW and four 40 GW) brains with no neurological/pathological conditions. We statistically compared the volume of the left and right radial and tangential migration pathways, and the volume of the radial migration pathways of the anterior and posterior regions of the brain. In specimens 22 GW or younger, the volume of radial migration pathways of the left hemisphere was significantly larger than that of the right hemisphere. The volume of posterior radial migration pathways was also larger when compared to the anterior pathways in specimens 22 GW or younger. In contrast, no significant differences were observed in the radial migration pathways of brains older than 22 GW. Moreover, our study did not identify any significant differences in volumetric laterality in the tangential migration pathways. These results suggest that these two neuronal migration pathways develop and regress differently, and radial neuronal migration varies regionally based on hemispheric and anterior-posterior laterality, potentially explaining regional differences in the amount of excitatory neurons that migrate along the radial scaffold.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuta Miyazaki
- Department of Medicine, Chiba University School of Medicine Chiba, Japan
| | - Jae W Song
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale University School of Medicine New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Emi Takahashi
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical SchoolBoston, MA, USA; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical SchoolCharlestown, MA, USA; Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical SchoolBoston, MA, USA
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Mitter C, Jakab A, Brugger PC, Ricken G, Gruber GM, Bettelheim D, Scharrer A, Langs G, Hainfellner JA, Prayer D, Kasprian G. Validation of In utero Tractography of Human Fetal Commissural and Internal Capsule Fibers with Histological Structure Tensor Analysis. Front Neuroanat 2015; 9:164. [PMID: 26732460 PMCID: PMC4689804 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2015.00164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2015] [Accepted: 12/07/2015] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tractography offer the unique possibility to visualize the developing white matter macroanatomy of the human fetal brain in vivo and in utero and are currently under investigation for their potential use in the diagnosis of developmental pathologies of the human central nervous system. However, in order to establish in utero DTI as a clinical imaging tool, an independent comparison between macroscopic imaging and microscopic histology data in the same subject is needed. The present study aimed to cross-validate normal as well as abnormal in utero tractography results of commissural and internal capsule fibers in human fetal brains using postmortem histological structure tensor (ST) analysis. In utero tractography findings from two structurally unremarkable and five abnormal fetal brains were compared to the results of postmortem ST analysis applied to digitalized whole hemisphere sections of the same subjects. An approach to perform ST-based deterministic tractography in histological sections was implemented to overcome limitations in correlating in utero tractography to postmortem histology data. ST analysis and histology-based tractography of fetal brain sections enabled the direct assessment of the anisotropic organization and main fiber orientation of fetal telencephalic layers on a micro- and macroscopic scale, and validated in utero tractography results of corpus callosum and internal capsule fiber tracts. Cross-validation of abnormal in utero tractography results could be achieved in four subjects with agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC) and in two cases with malformations of internal capsule fibers. In addition, potential limitations of current DTI-based in utero tractography could be demonstrated in several brain regions. Combining the three-dimensional nature of DTI-based in utero tractography with the microscopic resolution provided by histological ST analysis may ultimately facilitate a more complete morphologic characterization of axon guidance disorders at prenatal stages of human brain development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Mitter
- Division of Neuroradiology and Musculoskeletal Radiology, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Medical University of ViennaVienna, Austria; Institute of Neurology, Medical University of ViennaVienna, Austria
| | - András Jakab
- Computational Imaging Research Lab, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
| | - Peter C Brugger
- Department of Systematic Anatomy, Center for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
| | - Gerda Ricken
- Institute of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
| | - Gerlinde M Gruber
- Department of Systematic Anatomy, Center for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
| | - Dieter Bettelheim
- Division of Obstetrics and Feto-maternal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
| | - Anke Scharrer
- Clinical Institute for Pathology, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
| | - Georg Langs
- Computational Imaging Research Lab, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Daniela Prayer
- Division of Neuroradiology and Musculoskeletal Radiology, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
| | - Gregor Kasprian
- Division of Neuroradiology and Musculoskeletal Radiology, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
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Jakab A, Pogledic I, Schwartz E, Gruber G, Mitter C, Brugger PC, Langs G, Schöpf V, Kasprian G, Prayer D. Fetal Cerebral Magnetic Resonance Imaging Beyond Morphology. Semin Ultrasound CT MR 2015; 36:465-75. [DOI: 10.1053/j.sult.2015.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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Wang X, Pettersson DR, Studholme C, Kroenke CD. Characterization of Laminar Zones in the Mid-Gestation Primate Brain with Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Histological Methods. Front Neuroanat 2015; 9:147. [PMID: 26635541 PMCID: PMC4656822 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2015.00147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2015] [Accepted: 11/05/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Distinct populations of progenitor and postmitotic neural and glial cells are stratified in the fetal primate brain across developmentally transient tissue zones between the ventricular and pial surfaces. These zones were originally identified by light microscopy. However, it has subsequently been shown that various forms of magnetic resonance image (MRI) contrast can be used to distinguish layers of developing neural tissue in ex vivo, as well as in vivo (including in utero) conditions. Here we compare mid-gestation rhesus macaque tissue zones identified using histological techniques to ex vivo as well as in utero MRI performed on the same brains. These data are compared to mid-gestation fetal human brain MRI results, obtained in utero. We observe strong similarity between MRI contrast in vivo and post mortem, which facilitates interpretation of in utero images based on the histological characterization performed here. Additionally, we observe differential correspondence between the various forms of ex vivo MRI contrast and microscopy data, with maps of the water apparent diffusion coefficient providing the closest match to histologically-identified lamina of the nonhuman primate brain. Examination of histology and post mortem MRI helps to provide a better understanding of cytoarchitectrual characteristics that give rise to in utero MRI contrast.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaojie Wang
- Division of Neuroscience, Oregon National Primate Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University Beaverton, OR, USA
| | - David R Pettersson
- Department of Radiology, Oregon Health & Science University Portland, OR, USA
| | - Colin Studholme
- Biomedical Image Computing Group, Departments of Pediatrics, Bioengineering, and Radiology, University of Washington Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Christopher D Kroenke
- Division of Neuroscience, Oregon National Primate Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University Beaverton, OR, USA ; Advanced Imaging Research Center and Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University Portland, OR, USA
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Abstract
The human brain rapidly develops during the final weeks of gestation and in the first two years following birth. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a unique in vivo imaging technique that allows three-dimensional visualization of the white matter anatomy in the brain. It has been considered to be a valuable tool for studying brain development in early life. In this review, we first introduce the DTI technique. We then review DTI findings on white matter development at the fetal stage and in infancy as well as DTI applications for understanding neurocognitive development and brain abnormalities in preterm infants. Finally, we discuss limitations of DTI and potential valuable imaging techniques for studying white matter myelination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anqi Qiu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Clinical Imaging Research Center, National University of Singapore, 117576 Singapore;
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43
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Abstract
Over 90 years ago, anatomists noted the cortex is thinner in sulci than gyri, suggesting that development may occur on a fine scale driven by local topology. However, studies of brain development in youth have focused on describing how cortical thickness varies over large-scale functional and anatomic regions. How the relationship between thickness and local sulcal topology arises in development is still not well understood. Here, we investigated the spatial relationships between cortical thickness, folding, and underlying white matter organization to elucidate the influence of local topology on human brain development. Our approach included using both T1-weighted imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in a cross-sectional sample of 932 youths ages 8-21 studied as part of the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort. Principal components analysis revealed separable development-related processes of regionally specific nonlinear cortical thickening (from ages 8-14) and widespread linear cortical thinning that have dissociable relationships with cortical topology. Whereas cortical thinning was most prominent in the depths of the sulci, early cortical thickening was present on the gyri. Furthermore, decline in mean diffusivity calculated from DTI in underlying white matter was correlated with cortical thinning, suggesting that cortical thinning is spatially associated with white matter development. Spatial permutation tests were used to assess the significance of these relationships. Together, these data demonstrate that cortical remodeling during youth occurs on a local topological scale and is associated with changes in white matter beneath the cortical surface.
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Dubois J, Dehaene-Lambertz G, Kulikova S, Poupon C, Hüppi PS, Hertz-Pannier L. The early development of brain white matter: A review of imaging studies in fetuses, newborns and infants. Neuroscience 2014; 276:48-71. [PMID: 24378955 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2013.12.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 494] [Impact Index Per Article: 49.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2013] [Revised: 12/12/2013] [Accepted: 12/16/2013] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- J Dubois
- INSERM, U992, Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Gif-sur-Yvette, France; CEA, NeuroSpin Center, UNICOG, Gif-sur-Yvette, France; University Paris Sud, Orsay, France.
| | - G Dehaene-Lambertz
- INSERM, U992, Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Gif-sur-Yvette, France; CEA, NeuroSpin Center, UNICOG, Gif-sur-Yvette, France; University Paris Sud, Orsay, France
| | - S Kulikova
- CEA, NeuroSpin Center, UNIACT, Gif-sur-Yvette, France; INSERM, U663, Child epilepsies and brain plasticity, Paris, France; University Paris Descartes, Paris, France
| | - C Poupon
- CEA, NeuroSpin Center, UNIRS, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - P S Hüppi
- Geneva University Hospitals, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Development and Growth, Geneva, Switzerland; Harvard Medical School, Children's Hospital, Department of Neurology, Boston, MA, USA
| | - L Hertz-Pannier
- CEA, NeuroSpin Center, UNIACT, Gif-sur-Yvette, France; INSERM, U663, Child epilepsies and brain plasticity, Paris, France; University Paris Descartes, Paris, France
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Kostović I, Kostović-Srzentić M, Benjak V, Jovanov-Milošević N, Radoš M. Developmental dynamics of radial vulnerability in the cerebral compartments in preterm infants and neonates. Front Neurol 2014; 5:139. [PMID: 25120530 PMCID: PMC4114264 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2014.00139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2014] [Accepted: 07/14/2014] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The developmental vulnerability of different classes of axonal pathways in preterm white matter is not known. We propose that laminar compartments of the developing cerebral wall serve as spatial framework for axonal growth and evaluate potential of anatomical landmarks for understanding reorganization of the cerebral wall after perinatal lesions. The 3-T MRI (in vivo) and histological analysis were performed in a series of cases ranging from 22 postconceptional weeks to 3 years. For the follow-up scans, three groups of children (control, normotypic, and preterms with lesions) were examined at the term equivalent age and after the first year of life. MRI and histological abnormalities were analyzed in the following compartments: (a) periventricular, with periventricular fiber system; (b) intermediate, with periventricular crossroads, sagittal strata, and centrum semiovale; (c) superficial, composed of gyral white matter, subplate, and cortical plate. Vulnerability of thalamocortical pathways within the crossroads and sagittal strata seems to be characteristic for early preterms, while vulnerability of long association pathways in the centrum semiovale seems to be predominant feature of late preterms. The structural indicator of the lesion of the long association pathways is the loss of delineation between centrum semiovale and subplate remnant, which is possible substrate of the diffuse periventricular leukomalacia. The enhanced difference in MR signal intensity of centrum semiovale and subplate remnant, observed in damaged children after first year, we interpret as structural plasticity of intact short cortico-cortical fibers, which grow postnatally through U-zones and enter the cortex through the subplate remnant. Our findings indicate that radial distribution of MRI signal abnormalities in the cerebral compartments may be related to lesion of different classes of axonal pathways and have prognostic value for predicting the likely outcome of prenatal and perinatal lesions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivica Kostović
- Croatian Institute for Brain Research, University of Zagreb School of Medicine , Zagreb , Croatia
| | | | - Vesna Benjak
- Department of Pediatrics, Clinical Hospital Center Zagreb, University of Zagreb School of Medicine , Zagreb , Croatia
| | - Nataša Jovanov-Milošević
- Croatian Institute for Brain Research, University of Zagreb School of Medicine , Zagreb , Croatia
| | - Milan Radoš
- Croatian Institute for Brain Research, University of Zagreb School of Medicine , Zagreb , Croatia
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Song JW, Mitchell PD, Kolasinski J, Ellen Grant P, Galaburda AM, Takahashi E. Asymmetry of White Matter Pathways in Developing Human Brains. Cereb Cortex 2014; 25:2883-93. [PMID: 24812082 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhu084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
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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Affiliation(s)
- Jae W Song
- Department of Medicine, Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA Current address: Department of Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Paul D Mitchell
- Clinical Research Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - James Kolasinski
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA Current address: Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB), Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - P Ellen Grant
- Department of Medicine, Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Albert M Galaburda
- Department of Neurology, Division of Cognitive Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Emi Takahashi
- Department of Medicine, Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
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47
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Aggarwal M, Gobius I, Richards LJ, Mori S. Diffusion MR Microscopy of Cortical Development in the Mouse Embryo. Cereb Cortex 2014; 25:1970-80. [PMID: 24518754 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhu006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Cortical development in the mouse embryo involves complex changes in the microstructure of the telencephalic wall, which are challenging to examine using three-dimensional (3D) imaging techniques. In this study, high-resolution 3D diffusion magnetic resonance (dMR) microscopy of the embryonic mouse cortex is presented. Using diffusion-weighted gradient- and spin-echo based acquisition, dMR microimaging data were acquired from fixed mouse embryos at 7 developmental stages from embryonic day (E)12.5 to E18.5. The dMR imaging (dMRI) contrasts revealed microscopic structural detail in the mouse telencephalic wall, allowing delineation of transient zones in the developing cortex based on their unique diffusion signatures. With the high-resolution 3D data of the mouse embryo, we were able to visualize the complex microstructure of embryonic cerebral tissue and to resolve its regional and temporal evolution during cortical formation. Furthermore, averaged dMRI contrasts generated via deformable registration revealed distinct spatial and temporal gradients of anisotropy variation across the developing embryonic cortical plate and the ventricular zone. The findings of this study demonstrate the potential of 3D dMRI to resolve the complex microstructure of the embryonic mouse cortex, and will be important for investigations of corticogenesis and its disruption in embryonic mouse models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manisha Aggarwal
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | - Linda J Richards
- Queensland Brain Institute School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Susumu Mori
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
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Melbourne A, Kendall GS, Cardoso MJ, Gunny R, Robertson NJ, Marlow N, Ourselin S. Preterm birth affects the developmental synergy between cortical folding and cortical connectivity observed on multimodal MRI. Neuroimage 2013; 89:23-34. [PMID: 24315841 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.11.048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2013] [Revised: 11/26/2013] [Accepted: 11/28/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The survival rates of infants born prematurely have improved as a result of advances in neonatal care, although there remains an increased risk of subsequent disability. Accurate measurement of the shape and appearance of the very preterm brain at term-equivalent age may guide the development of predictive biomarkers of neurological outcome. We demonstrate in 92 preterm infants (born at an average gestational age of 27.0±2.7weeks) scanned at term equivalent age (scanned at 40.4±1.74weeks) that the cortical sulcation ratio varies spatially over the cortical surface at term equivalent age and correlates significantly with gestational age at birth (r=0.49,p<0.0001). In the underlying white matter, fractional anisotropy of local white matter regions correlated significantly with gestational age at birth at term equivalent age (for the genu of the corpus callosum r=0.26,p=0.02 and for the splenium r=0.52,p<0.001) and in addition the fractional anisotropy in these local regions varies according to location. Finally, we demonstrate that connectivity measurements from tractography correlate significantly and specifically with the sulcation ratio of the overlying cortical surface at term equivalent age in a subgroup of 20 infants (r={0.67,0.61,0.86}, p={0.004,0.01,0.00002}) for tract systems emanating from the left and right corticospinal tracts and the corpus callosum respectively). Combined, these results suggest a close relationship between the cortical surface phenotype and underlying white matter structure assessed by diffusion weighted MRI. The spatial surface pattern may allow inference on the connectivity and developmental trajectory of the underlying white matter complementary to diffusion imaging and this result may guide the development of biomarkers of functional outcome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Melbourne
- Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC), University College London, UK.
| | - Giles S Kendall
- Academic Neonatology, EGA UCL Institute for Women's Health, London, UK
| | - M Jorge Cardoso
- Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC), University College London, UK
| | - Roxanna Gunny
- Academic Neonatology, EGA UCL Institute for Women's Health, London, UK
| | | | - Neil Marlow
- Academic Neonatology, EGA UCL Institute for Women's Health, London, UK
| | - Sebastien Ourselin
- Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC), University College London, UK
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