Sowell Elizabeth R, Thompson Paul M, Rex David, Kornsand David, Tessner Kevin D, Jernigan Terry L, Toga Arthur W
Department of Neurology, Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1769, USA.
Cereb Cortex. 2002 Jan;12(1):17-26. doi: 10.1093/cercor/12.1.17.
Previous in vivo morphometric studies of human brain maturation between childhood and young adulthood have revealed a spatial and temporal pattern of progressive brain changes that is consistent with the post mortem cytoarchitectonic and cognitive developmental literatures. In this study, we mapped age differences in structural asymmetries at the cortical surface in groups of normally developing children (7-11 years), adolescents (12-16 years) and young adults (23-30 years) using novel surface-based mesh modeling image analytic methods. We also assessed relationships between cortical surface sulcal asymmetry and the local density of the underlying cortical gray matter. Results from this study reveal that perisylvian sulcal asymmetries are much more prominent in the adults than in the children studied. The superior posterior extent of the Sylvian fissure in the right hemisphere is approximately 7 mm more superior in the average adult than in the average child studied, whereas little difference is observed during this age range in the location of this anatomical structure in the left hemisphere. Age-related differences in Sylvian fissure asymmetry were significant (P = 0.0129, permutation test), showing increased asymmetry with increasing age. We also show age-related increases in local gray matter proportion bilaterally in the temporo-parietal cortices that are anatomically and temporally related to the sulcal asymmetries. Results from this cross-sectional study imply that asymmetries in the Sylvian fissure are dynamically changing into young adulthood and show that variability in brain tissue density is related to asymmetry in this region. These morphological differences may be related to changing cognitive abilities and are relevant in interpreting results from studies of abnormal brain development where perisylvian brain regions are implicated.
先前关于儿童期至青年期人脑成熟的体内形态测量研究揭示了渐进性脑变化的空间和时间模式，这与死后细胞结构和认知发展文献一致。在本研究中，我们使用基于表面的新型网格建模图像分析方法，绘制了正常发育儿童组（7 - 11岁）、青少年组（12 - 16岁）和青年成人组（23 - 30岁）皮质表面结构不对称性的年龄差异。我们还评估了皮质表面脑沟不对称性与下层皮质灰质局部密度之间的关系。本研究结果表明，与所研究的儿童相比，外侧裂周围脑沟不对称性在成人中更为显著。在平均成人中，右侧半球外侧裂的后上范围比所研究的平均儿童大约高7毫米，而在该年龄范围内，左侧半球该解剖结构的位置几乎没有差异。外侧裂不对称性的年龄相关差异具有显著性（P = 0.0129，置换检验），表明随着年龄增长不对称性增加。我们还显示，双侧颞顶叶皮质局部灰质比例随年龄增长而增加，这在解剖学和时间上与脑沟不对称性相关。这项横断面研究的结果表明，外侧裂的不对称性在青年期动态变化，并表明脑组织密度的变异性与该区域的不对称性有关。这些形态学差异可能与认知能力的变化有关，并且在解释涉及外侧裂周围脑区的异常脑发育研究结果时具有相关性。
