Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has also been used to assess white matter integrity in the pediatric population 13, 14. 9 reported prepubertal increase followed by postpubertal loss in GM volume in the frontal and parietal lobes, a general trend supported by subsequent studies 11, 12. These include a continuous increase in the volume of white matter with age that has been attributed to myelination and improved connectivity between brain regions 8 as well as an inverted U-shaped function for age-related variations in grey matter (GM), potentially the result of the ‘pruning’ of excitatory synaptic connections 9 or intracortical myelination 10. Two major neurodevelopmental trends have been revealed by pediatric structural brain imaging. However, relatively few datasets include consistent and cutting-edge structural and functional imaging modalities that are readily available and present few barriers to analysis. Considerable effort has been devoted to building developmental brain templates across age 3– 7 in order to understand the dynamic processes associated with adolescence. Neuroimaging has the potential to identify changes in the pediatric brain that may precede the development of neuropsychiatric disorders later in life 1 and to quantify otherwise subjective symptoms such as pain 2. This novel resource will allow a more detailed understanding of the network-level, structural and functional landmarks that are obtained during normal adolescent brain development. We describe the PTBP and show, as a demonstration of validity, that global summary measurements capture the trajectories that demarcate critical turning points in brain maturation.
The PTBP uses cross-sectional and longitudinal MRI to quantify cortex, white matter, resting state functional connectivity and brain perfusion, as measured by Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL), in 120 children 7–18 years of age. The Pediatric Template of Brain Perfusion (PTBP) is a free and public neuroimaging resource that will help accelerate the understanding of childhood brain development as seen through the lens of multiple modality neuroimaging and in relation to cognitive and environmental factors.
These measurements may yield valuable insights into the neural patterns that mark healthy maturation or that identify early risk for psychiatric disorder.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) captures the dynamics of brain development with multiple modalities that quantify both structure and function.
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