White matter maturation of normal human fetal brain. An in vivo diffusion tensor tractography study

Brain and Behavior

Emilie Zanin¹  Jean-Philippe Ranjeva¹  Sylviane Confort-Gouny¹  Maxime Guye¹  Daniele Denis²  Patrick J. Cozzone¹ 

[1] Centre de Résonance Magnétique Biologique et Médicale UMR CNRS 6612, Faculté de Médecine de Marseille, Université de la Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille II, France;Service d’Ophtalmologie, Centre hospitalo-universitaire Nord, Assistance Publique des Hôpitaux de Marseille, France

关键词: Corpus callosum;    corticospinal tracts;    diffusion tractography;    fetal development;    human;    in utero;    visual pathways;    white matter maturation;   

DOI  :  10.1002/brb3.17

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

We demonstrate for the first time the ability to determine in vivo and in utero the transitions between the main stages of white matter (WM) maturation in normal human fetuses using magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography. Biophysical characteristics of water motion are used as an indirect probe to evaluate progression of the tissue matrix organization in cortico-spinal tracts (CSTs), optic radiations (OR), and corpus callosum (CC) in 17 normal human fetuses explored between 23 and 38 weeks of gestation (GW) and selected strictly on minimal motion artifacts. Nonlinear polynomial (third order) curve fittings of normalized longitudinal and radial water diffusivities (Z-scores) as a function of age identify three different phases of maturation with specific dynamics for each WM bundle type. These phases may correspond to distinct cellular events such as axonal organization, myelination gliosis, and myelination, previously reported by other groups on post-mortem fetuses using immunostaining methods. According to the DTI parameter dynamics, we suggest that myelination (phase 3) appears early in the CSTs, followed by the OR and by the CC, respectively. DTI tractography provides access to a better understanding of fetal WM maturation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC   
©2011 The Authors. Brain and Behavior published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.