White matter development from birth to 6 years of age: a longitudinal study
Open accessAbstract
Human white matter development in the first years of life is rapid, setting the foundation for later development. Microstructural properties of white matter are linked to many behavioral and psychiatric outcomes; however, little is known about when in development individual differences in white matter microstructure are established. The aim of the current study is to characterize longitudinal development of white matter microstructure from birth through 6 years to determine when in development individual differences are established. Two hundred and twenty-four children underwent diffusion-weighted imaging after birth and at 1, 2, 4, and 6 years. Diffusion tensor imaging data were computed for 20 white matter tracts (9 left–right corresponding tracts and 2 commissural tracts), with tract-based measures of fractional anisotropy and axial and radial diffusivity. Microstructural maturation between birth and 1 year are much greater than subsequent changes. Further, by 1 year, individual differences in tract average values are consistently predictive of the respective 6-year values, explaining, on average, 40% of the variance in 6-year microstructure. Results provide further evidence of the importance of the first year of life with regard to white matter development, with potential implications for informing early intervention efforts that target specific sensitive periods.
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Studies characterize typical nonlinear trajectories (piecewise, exponential, quadratic) of diffusion metrics for major tracts across large developmental ranges.
“Studies also characterize several typical nonlinear trajectories (piecewise, exponential and quadratic) of diffusion metrics for major tracts across large developmental ranges such as infancy to childhood (Pecheva et al., 2017; Reynolds et al., 2019; Stephens et al., 2020) or adolescence to adulthood (Chang et al., 2015; Lebel and Beaulieu, 2011).”
From Quantitative mapping of the brain’s structural connectivity using diffusion MRI tractography: A review (2022) · cites this paper as Stephens et al., 2020
The Tract Trajectories section (page not provided) reports diffusion-metric trajectories for major tracts from birth to age 6, with much faster change in the first year than later years. The Statistical Analysis section (page not provided) says these trajectories were plotted from age-specific averages; our copy does not identify them as piecewise, exponential, or quadratic models. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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“cal nonlinear trajectories (piecewise, exponential and quadratic) of diffusion metrics for major tracts across large developmental ranges such as infancy to childhood [333, 357, 434] or adolescence to adulthood [75, 251].”
- Authors
- Stephens, R. L., Langworthy, B. W., Short, S. J., Girault, J. B., Styner, M. A., & Gilmore, J. H.
- Affiliations
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Corresponding author
- Stephens, Rebecca L
- ORCID
- Venue
- Cerebral Cortex
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2020-06-27
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 6152-6168
- ISSN
- 1047-3211 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2199
- PMC
- PMC7947172
- OpenAlex
- W3037263474
- Cited by
- 63
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 2.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model (vor)
- Locations
- Cerebral Cortex (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (submittedVersion)
- UNC Libraries
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (HD053000, MH064065, MH070890, MH111944)
- National Institute of Mental Health (T32-MH106440, MH099411)
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (T32-HD007376, T32-HD40127)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- white matter development, white matter microstructure, individual differences, fractional anisotropy, axial and radial diffusivity, white matter tracts, commissural tracts, first year of life, sensitive period, early intervention, infancy, longitudinal development
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Child, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Female, Gestational Age, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Neural Pathways, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, White Matter
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