LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS OF CEREBRAL CORTICAL DEVELOPMENT IN UTERO

这个子项目是许多利用 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源。子项目和 研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金， 因此可在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为 研究中心，而研究中心不一定是研究者所在的机构。 妊娠期大脑皮层的异常发育会导致长期的认知障碍，这些障碍在出生后几年的行为上是可检测的。拟议实验的目标是开发MRI功能，用于监测子宫内的大脑皮层发育，并检测发育异常。我们将在正常日本猕猴的整个妊娠后半期对胎儿大脑发育进行纵向MRI测量，并将我们的研究结果与母体高脂饮食的胎儿进行比较。最近描述的成像技术将被应用于获得高质量的子宫内脑图像。将使用MRI数据构建皮质表面模型，并使用扩散张量成像（DTI）技术监测与皮质发育相关的微结构变化。利用这些数据，我们的目标是：1）测试微结构变化和大脑皮质表面积扩张之间的假设关系，2）确定在经历高脂肪母体环境的胎儿中是否观察到皮质发育的假设变化。通过这一独特的机会，在非人类灵长类动物进行纵向测量，我们将探索促炎细胞因子表达对皮质发育的潜在作用，并提供新的见解的生物学机制，引起皮质表面扩张与发展。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Abnormal development of the cerebral cortex during the gestational period results in long-term cognitive impairments that are behaviorally detectable years after birth. The goal of the proposed experiments is to develop MRI capabilities for monitoring cerebral cortical development, and detecting developmental abnormalities, in utero. We will perform longitudinal MRI measurements of fetal brain development throughout the second half of gestation in normal Japanese macaques, and compare our findings to fetuses subjected to a maternal high-fat diet. A recently-described imaging technique will be applied to obtain high-quality in utero brain images. Cortical surface models will be constructed using the MRI data, and microstructural changes associated with cortical development will be monitored using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) techniques. With this data, we aim to 1) test a hypothesized relationship between microstructural changes and cerebral cortical surface area expansion, and 2) determine whether hypothesized alterations in cortical development are observed in fetuses experiencing a high-fat maternal environment. Through this unique opportunity to perform longitudinal measurements in a non-human primate, we will explore the potential role of proinflammatory cytokine expression on cortical development and provide new insight into the biological mechanisms that give rise to cortical surface expansion with development.