Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, UK.
Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, University of Cambridge, Box 65 Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK.
Cereb Cortex. 2018 Dec 1;28(12):4440-4453. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhy256.
With increasing attention on the developmental causes of neuropsychiatric disorders, appropriate animal models are crucial to identifying causes and assessing potential interventions. The common marmoset is an ideal model as it has sophisticated social/emotional behavior, reaching adulthood within 2 years of birth. Magnetic resonance imaging was used in an accelerated longitudinal cohort (n = 41; aged 3-27 months; scanned 2-7 times over 2 years). Splines were used to model nonlinear trajectories of grey matter volume development in 53 cortical areas and 16 subcortical nuclei. Generally, volumes increased before puberty, peaked, and declined into adulthood. We identified 3 milestones of grey matter development: I) age at peak volume; II) age at onset of volume decline; and III) age at maximum rate of volume decline. These milestones differentiated growth trajectories of primary sensory/motor cortical areas from those of association cortex but also revealed distinct trajectories between association cortices. Cluster analysis of trajectories showed that prefrontal cortex was the most heterogenous of association regions, comprising areas with distinct milestones and developmental trajectories. These results highlight the potential of high-field structural MRI to define the dynamics of primate brain development and importantly to identify when specific prefrontal circuits may be most vulnerable to environmental impact.
随着人们对神经精神疾病发展原因的关注度不断提高，合适的动物模型对于确定病因和评估潜在干预措施至关重要。普通狨猴是一种理想的模型，因为它具有复杂的社会/情感行为，在出生后 2 年内即可达到成年期。磁共振成像被用于加速纵向队列研究（n=41；年龄 3-27 个月；在 2 年内扫描 2-7 次）。样条用于在 53 个皮质区和 16 个皮质下核团中建模灰质体积发育的非线性轨迹。通常，体积在青春期前增加，达到峰值，然后在成年期下降。我们确定了灰质发育的 3 个里程碑：I）峰值体积的年龄；II）体积下降开始的年龄；III）体积下降的最大速率的年龄。这些里程碑区分了初级感觉/运动皮质区和联合皮质区的生长轨迹，但也揭示了联合皮质区之间的不同轨迹。轨迹的聚类分析表明，前额叶皮质是联合区域中最异质的区域，包括具有明显里程碑和发育轨迹的区域。这些结果突出了高磁场结构 MRI 定义灵长类动物大脑发育动态的潜力，重要的是可以确定特定的前额叶回路何时可能最容易受到环境影响。
