Age-Related Effects and Sex Differences in Gray Matter Density, Volume, Mass, and Cortical Thickness from Childhood to Young Adulthood
Age-Related Effects and Sex Differences in Gray Matter Density, Volume, Mass, and Cortical Thickness from Childhood to Young Adulthood
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DOI：
10.1523/jneurosci.3550-16.2017
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发表时间：
2017-05-17
影响因子：
5.3
通讯作者：
Gur, Ruben C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gennatas, Efstathios D.;Avants, Brian B.;Gur, Ruben C.
人类发育结构神经影像学研究长期以来一直描述青春期期间灰质体积（GMV）和皮质厚度（CT）的减少。灰质密度（GMD）通常被认为与体积高度相关，但在开发过程中尚未得到系统研究。我们使用费城神经发育队列收集的 T1 成像数据来研究 1189 名 8 岁至 23 岁青少年的四个区域灰质测量值的年龄相关影响和性别差异。使用定制 T1 分割和新颖的高分辨率灰质分割来提取 1625 个脑区域的 GMD、GMV、灰质质量（GMM；定义为 GMD x GMV）和 CT。非线性模型显示，每种模式都表现出独特的与年龄相关的影响和性别差异。虽然 GMV 和 CT 一般会随着年龄的增长而下降，但 GMD 会增加，并显示出最强的与年龄相关的影响，而 GMM 则总体上略有下降。女性整个大脑的 GMV 较低，但 GMD 高于男性。我们的研究结果表明，GMD 是评估大脑发育和可能的认知的主要表型，并且青春期灰质损失可能没有以前想象的那么明显。这项工作强调了联合定量组织学 MRI 研究的必要性。
Developmental structural neuroimaging studies in humans have long described decreases in gray matter volume (GMV) and cortical thickness (CT) during adolescence. Gray matter density (GMD), a measure often assumed to be highly related to volume, has not been systematically investigated in development. We used T1 imaging data collected on the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort to study age-related effects and sex differences in four regional gray matter measures in 1189 youths ranging in age from 8 to 23 years. Custom T1 segmentation and a novel high-resolution gray matter parcellation were used to extract GMD, GMV, gray matter mass (GMM; defined as GMD x GMV), and CT from 1625 brain regions. Nonlinear models revealed that each modality exhibits unique age-related effects and sex differences. While GMV and CT generally decrease with age, GMD increases and shows the strongest age-related effects, while GMM shows a slight decline overall. Females have lower GMV but higher GMD than males throughout the brain. Our findings suggest that GMD is a prime phenotype for the assessment of brain development and likely cognition and that periadolescent gray matter loss may be less pronounced than previously thought. This work highlights the need for combined quantitative histological MRI studies.