Mapping brain maturation

• Published in: Trends in neurosciences (Regular ed.) Vol. 29; no. 3; pp. 148 - 159
• Main Authors: Toga, Arthur W., Thompson, Paul M., Sowell, Elizabeth R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2006; Elsevier Science; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - physiopathology; Attention deficit disorders. Hyperactivity; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Brain - growth & development; Brain - physiopathology; Brain Mapping - methods; Child; Child clinical studies; Child, Preschool; Cognition & reasoning; Developmental Disabilities - physiopathology; Female; Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders - physiopathology; Fetal alcohol syndrome; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical disorders; Medical sciences; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Organ Size; Pregnancy; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Reference Values; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - physiopathology; Twin Studies as Topic; Williams Syndrome - physiopathology; Human; Fetal alcohol syndrome; Ethanol; Hyperactivity; Central nervous system; Schizophrenia; Williams Elfin syndrome; Review; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Encephalon; Psychosis; Newborn diseases; Attentional disorder; Attention disorder with hyperactivity; Technique
• ISSN: 0166-2236; 1878-108X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2006.01.007

Human brain maturation is a complex, lifelong process that can now be examined in detail using neuroimaging techniques. Ongoing projects scan subjects longitudinally with structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), enabling the time-course and anatomical sequence of development to be reconstructed. Here, we review recent progress on imaging studies of development. We focus on cortical and subcortical changes observed in healthy children, and contrast them with abnormal developmental changes in early-onset schizophrenia, fetal alcohol syndrome, attention-deficit–hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Williams syndrome. We relate these structural changes to the cellular processes that underlie them, and to cognitive and behavioral changes occurring throughout childhood and adolescence.