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Growth patterns in the developing brain detected by using continuum mechanical tensor maps

Nature volume 404, pages 190–193 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

The dynamic nature of growth and degenerative disease processes requires the design of sensitive strategies to detect, track and quantify structural change in the brain in its full spatial and temporal complexity1. Although volumes of brain substructures are known to change during development2, detailed maps of these dynamic growth processes have been unavailable. Here we report the creation of spatially complex, four-dimensional quantitative maps of growth patterns in the developing human brain, detected using a tensor mapping strategy with greater spatial detail and sensitivity than previously obtainable. By repeatedly scanning children (aged 3–15 years) across time spans of up to four years, a rostro-caudal wave of growth was detected at the corpus callosum, a fibre system that relays information between brain hemispheres. Peak growth rates, in fibres innervating association and language cortices, were attenuated after puberty, and contrasted sharply with a severe, spatially localized loss of subcortical grey matter. Conversely, at ages 3–6 years, the fastest growth rates occurred in frontal networks that regulate the planning of new actions. Local rates, profiles, and principal directions of growth were visualized in each individual child.

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Figure 1: Growth patterns in the developing human brain detected at ages 3–15 years.
Figure 2: Mapping dynamic patterns of brain development: four-dimensional growth maps.
Figure 3: Patterns of cerebral growth.
Figure 4: Detecting three-dimensional patterns of deep nuclear tissue loss.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Sowell, M. Mega and J. Mazziotta for their advice and support. P.M.T. was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the US Information Agency, and the US–UK Fulbright Commission. Additional research support was provided by a Human Brain Project grant to the International Consortium for Brain Mapping, funded jointly by NIMH and NIDA, by National Institutes of Health intramural funding (J.N.G.), and by the National Library of Medicine, National Science Foundation, and the NCRR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Division of Brain Mapping, Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, UCLA School of Medicine, 710 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, 90095-1769, California, USA

    Paul M. Thompson, Roger P. Woods & Arthur W. Toga

  2. Child Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MSC 1600, 20982-1600, Maryland, USA

    Jay N. Giedd

  3. Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, 3801 University Street, Montreal , H3A 2B4, Québec, Canada

    David MacDonald & Alan C. Evans

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  1. Paul M. Thompson
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Correspondence to Arthur W. Toga.

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Thompson, P., Giedd, J., Woods, R. et al. Growth patterns in the developing brain detected by using continuum mechanical tensor maps. Nature 404, 190–193 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35004593

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