White Matter Development in Adolescence: A DTI Study
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 5 January 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Cerebral Cortex
- Vol. 20 (9), 2122-2131
- https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhp282
Abstract
Adolescence is a unique period of physical and cognitive development that includes concurrent pubertal changes and sex-based vulnerabilities. While diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies show white matter maturation throughout the lifespan, the state of white matter integrity specific to adolescence is not well understood as are the contributions of puberty and sex. We performed whole-brain DTI studies of 114 children, adolescents, and adults to identify age-related changes in white matter integrity that characterize adolescence. A distinct set of regions across the brain were found to have decreasing radial diffusivity across age groups. Region of interest analyses revealed that maturation was attained by adolescence in broadly distributed association and projection fibers, including those supporting cortical and brain stem integration that may underlie known enhancements in reaction time during this period. Maturation after adolescence included association and projection tracts, including prefrontal–striatal connections, known to support top-down executive control of behavior and interhemispheric connectivity. Maturation proceeded in parallel with pubertal changes to the postpubertal stage, suggesting hormonal influences on white matter development. Females showed earlier maturation of white matter integrity compared with males. Together, these findings suggest that white matter connectivity supporting executive control of behavior is still immature in adolescence.Keywords
This publication has 111 references indexed in Scilit:
- Development of Working Memory MaintenanceJournal of Neurophysiology, 2009
- Why do many psychiatric disorders emerge during adolescence?Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2008
- Maturational Changes in Anterior Cingulate and Frontoparietal Recruitment Support the Development of Error Processing and Inhibitory ControlCerebral Cortex, 2008
- Tract probability maps in stereotaxic spaces: Analyses of white matter anatomy and tract-specific quantificationNeuroImage, 2007
- Development of distinct control networks through segregation and integrationProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2007
- Developmental differences in white matter architecture between boys and girlsHuman Brain Mapping, 2007
- Diffusion Tensor Anisotropy in Adolescents and AdultsNeuropsychobiology, 2007
- Sexual dimorphism of brain developmental trajectories during childhood and adolescenceNeuroImage, 2007
- Quantitative Diffusion Tensor Tractography of Association and Projection Fibers in Normally Developing Children and AdolescentsCerebral Cortex, 2007
- Diffusion tensor imaging in children and adolescents: Reproducibility, hemispheric, and age-related differencesNeuroImage, 2007