White Matter Development in Adolescence: A DTI Study
White Matter Development in Adolescence: A DTI Study
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DOI：
10.1093/cercor/bhp282
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发表时间：
2010-09-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Luna, B.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Asato, M. R.;Terwilliger, R.;Luna, B.
青春期是身体和认知发展的一个独特时期，包括同时发生的青春期变化和基于性别的脆弱性。尽管弥散张量成像（DTI）研究显示白质在整个生命周期中都在成熟，但青春期特有的白质完整性状态，以及青春期和性别的贡献，还没有得到很好的理解。我们对114名儿童、青少年和成人进行了全脑DTI研究，以确定青春期白质完整性的年龄相关变化。研究发现，在不同年龄组中，大脑中有一组不同的区域的径向扩散率呈下降趋势。兴趣区分析显示，在青春期，广泛分布的关联和投射纤维（包括支持皮层和脑干整合的纤维）达到成熟，这些纤维可能是这一时期反应时间增强的基础。青春期后的成熟包括关联和投射束，包括前额叶-纹状体连接，已知支持自上而下的行为执行控制和半球间连接。成熟与青春期的变化并行进行，直至青春期后阶段，这表明激素对白质发育有影响。雌性脑白质完整性成熟较雄性早。总之，这些发现表明，支持行为执行控制的白质连接在青春期仍不成熟。
Adolescence is a unique period of physical and cognitive development that includes concurrent pubertal changes and sex-based vulnerabilities. While diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies show white matter maturation throughout the lifespan, the state of white matter integrity specific to adolescence is not well understood as are the contributions of puberty and sex. We performed whole-brain DTI studies of 114 children, adolescents, and adults to identify age-related changes in white matter integrity that characterize adolescence. A distinct set of regions across the brain were found to have decreasing radial diffusivity across age groups. Region of interest analyses revealed that maturation was attained by adolescence in broadly distributed association and projection fibers, including those supporting cortical and brain stem integration that may underlie known enhancements in reaction time during this period. Maturation after adolescence included association and projection tracts, including prefrontal-striatal connections, known to support top-down executive control of behavior and interhemispheric connectivity. Maturation proceeded in parallel with pubertal changes to the postpubertal stage, suggesting hormonal influences on white matter development. Females showed earlier maturation of white matter integrity compared with males. Together, these findings suggest that white matter connectivity supporting executive control of behavior is still immature in adolescence.