Burgund E Darcy, Kang Hyunseon Christine, Kelly James E, Buckner Randy L, Snyder Abraham Z, Petersen Steven E, Schlaggar Bradley L
Department of Neurology, Neurobiology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
Neuroimage. 2002 Sep;17(1):184-200. doi: 10.1006/nimg.2002.1174.
The question of whether pediatric and adult neuroimaging data can be analyzed in a common stereotactic space is a critical issue for developmental neuroscience. Two studies were performed to address this question. In Study 1, high-resolution structural MR brain images of 20 children (7-8 years of age) and 20 young adults (18-30 years of age) were transformed to a common space. Overall brain shape was assessed by tracing the outer boundaries of the brains in three orientations, and more local anatomy was assessed by analysis of portions of 10 selected sulci. Small, but consistent, differences in location and variability were observed in specific locations of the sulcal tracings and outer-boundary sections. In Study 2, a computer simulation was used to assess the extent to which the small anatomical differences observed in Study 1 would produce spurious effects in functional imaging data. Results indicate that, assuming a functional resolution of 5 mm in images averaged across subjects, anatomical differences in either variability or location between children and adults of the magnitude obperved in Study 1 would not negatively affect functional image comparisons. We conclude that atlas-transformed brain morphology is relatively consistent between 7- and 8-year-old children and adults at a resolution appropriate to current functional imaging and that the small anatomical differences present do not limit the usefulness of comparing child and adult functional images within a common stereotactic space.
儿科和成人神经影像数据能否在一个共同的立体定向空间中进行分析，这一问题对发育神经科学而言至关重要。开展了两项研究来探讨这个问题。在研究1中，将20名儿童（7 - 8岁）和20名年轻人（18 - 30岁）的高分辨率脑部结构磁共振图像转换到一个共同空间。通过在三个方向上描绘大脑的外部边界来评估整体脑形状，并通过分析10个选定脑沟的部分区域来评估更局部的解剖结构。在脑沟追踪和外边界区域的特定位置观察到了位置和变异性方面的微小但一致的差异。在研究2中，使用计算机模拟来评估研究1中观察到的微小解剖差异在功能成像数据中会产生多大程度的虚假效应。结果表明，假设在跨受试者平均的图像中功能分辨率为5毫米，研究1中观察到的儿童和成人在变异性或位置上的解剖差异程度不会对功能图像比较产生负面影响。我们得出结论，在适合当前功能成像的分辨率下，7至8岁儿童和成人之间经图谱转换的脑形态相对一致，并且存在的微小解剖差异并不限制在共同立体定向空间内比较儿童和成人功能图像的实用性。
