Abstract
Background
Early brain development is closely dictated by distinct neurobiological principles. Here, we aimed to map early trajectories of structural brain wiring in the neonatal brain.
Methods
We investigated structural connectome development in 44 newborns, including 23 preterm infants and 21 full-term neonates scanned between 29 and 45 postmenstrual weeks. Diffusion-weighted imaging data were combined with cortical segmentations derived from T2 data to construct neonatal connectome maps.
Results
Projection fibers interconnecting primary cortices and deep gray matter structures were noted to mature faster than connections between higher-order association cortices (fractional anisotropy (FA) F = 58.9, p < 0.001, radial diffusivity (RD) F = 28.8, p < 0.001). Neonatal FA-values resembled adult FA-values more than RD, while RD approximated the adult brain faster (F = 358.4, p < 0.001). Maturational trajectories of RD in neonatal white matter pathways revealed substantial overlap with what is known about the sequence of subcortical white matter myelination from histopathological mappings as recorded by early neuroanatomists (mean RD 68 regions r = 0.45, p = 0.008).
Conclusion
Employing postnatal neuroimaging we reveal that early maturational trajectories of white matter pathways display discriminative developmental features of the neonatal brain network. These findings provide valuable insight into the early stages of structural connectome development.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Nathalie Claessens, Laura Dix, Nienke Wagenaar, and Lauren Weeke for their assistance in the data collection and Filipe Gervásio Gonçalves Costa for his intellectual input on the content of the manuscript. We also thank Ingrid van Haastert, Corine Koopman, Marian Jongmans, A. Wingens, M. Tanke, Tabitha Koops and Sasja Duijff for their careful neurodevelopmental evaluation of the children included in this study. We are grateful to the MRI technicians for their dedication to good quality imaging data acquisition in our neonates. Data were provided in part by the Human Connectome Project, WU-Minn Consortium (Principal Investigators: David Van Essen and Kamil Ugurbil; 1U54MH091657) funded by the 16 NIH Institutes and Centers that support the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research; and by the McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience at Washington University. This work was supported by a grant from the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital Research Fund (“Vrienden van het WKZ”) to M.P.v.d.H. and M.J.B. The work of M.P.v.d.H. is supported by a VIDI grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) (grant number 452-16-015), a Rudolf Magnus Fellowship and an MQ Fellowship.
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Keunen, K., van der Burgh, H.K., de Reus, M.A. et al. Early human brain development: insights into macroscale connectome wiring. Pediatr Res 84, 829–836 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-018-0138-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-018-0138-1
