Early Brain Development in One and Two Year Olds

描述（由申请人提供）：生命的最初几年是最活跃的，也许是出生后大脑发育最关键的阶段。儿童早期大脑发育异常与神经发育障碍有关，包括自闭症和精神分裂症，尽管对这一关键时期知之甚少。在之前的资助周期中，我们研究了一组独特的正常儿童的大脑发育，他们在出生、1岁和2岁时进行了纵向跟踪和扫描，包括386名新生儿、297名1岁儿童和251名2岁儿童。此外，我们还开发了创新的图像分析工具，用于研究幼儿的大脑发育。我们的研究发现，在生命的头2岁，灰质和白质发育迅速，皮层和白质束存在明显的区域差异，与感觉/运动和高级综合功能发育的时间模式一致。我们还发现了白质成熟和工作记忆之间的重要关系。初步数据表明，新生儿的区域灰质体积和白质束弥漫性可以预测1岁和2岁时的灰质体积和白质结构。这些发现表明，新生儿的大脑结构，反映了产前大脑发育和生命最初两年的快速生长轨迹，可能在长期结果中发挥重要作用。在这一竞争性更新中，我们将把我们的队列随访延长到6岁，并专注于结构/功能关系和早期大脑结构的预测价值

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The first years of life are the most dynamic and perhaps the most critical phase of postnatal brain development. Abnormalities in early childhood brain development have been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism and schizophrenia, though very little is known about this crucial time period. In the previous grant cycle, we studied brain development in a unique cohort of normal children longitudinally followed and scanned at birth, 1 and 2 years of age, including 386 neonates, 297 one year olds and 251 two year olds. In addition, we have developed the innovative image analysis tools necessary to study brain development in very young children. Our studies found rapid gray matter development and white matter maturation in the first 2 years of life, with marked regional differences in the cortex and in white matter tracts, consistent with temporal patterns of sensory/motor and higher integrative function development. We also found significant relationships between white matter maturation and working memory. Preliminary data indicates that regional gray matter volume and white matter tract diffusivity in neonates is predictive of subsequent gray matter volume and white matter structure at ages 1 and 2 years. These findings indicate that neonatal brain structure, reflective of prenatal brain development and the rapid growth trajectories of the first two years of life, likely play an important role in longer trm outcome. In this competitive renewal, we will extend follow-up of our cohort to 6 years of age and focus on structure/function relationships and the predictive value of early brain structure for later childhood brain structure and cognitive function. MRIs, including structural and diffusion tensor imaging, will be done at ages 1, 2, 4, and 6 years. Cognitive development, including general cognitive function and working memory will also be assessed. Developmental trajectories of cortical gray matter (including cortical thickness and surface area) and white matter (including tract-based spatial statistics and quantitative tractography) will be studied. We predict that neonatal brain structure and developmental trajectories in the first two years of life are critical for, and predictive of, subsequent structural and cognitive development. Relevance New knowledge gained in this study will provide a dramatically improved framework for understanding abnormalities of early childhood brain development in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia and will provide the fundamental information critical for developing preventative strategies for these disorders.