Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Department of Radiology, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Cerebellum. 2019 Jun;18(3):372-387. doi: 10.1007/s12311-018-1003-9.
Cerebellum-cerebrum connections are essential for many motor and cognitive functions and cerebellar disorders are prevalent in childhood. The middle (MCP), inferior (ICP), and superior cerebellar peduncles (SCP) are the major white matter pathways that permit communication between the cerebellum and the cerebrum. Knowledge about the microstructural properties of these cerebellar peduncles across childhood is limited. Here, we report on a diffusion magnetic resonance imaging tractography study to describe age-dependent characteristics of the cerebellar peduncles in a cross-sectional sample of infants, children, and adolescents from newborn to 17 years of age (N = 113). Scans were collected as part of clinical care; participants were restricted to those whose scans showed no abnormal findings and whose history and exam had no risk factors for cerebellar abnormalities. A novel automated tractography protocol was applied. Results showed that mean tract-FA increased, while mean tract-MD decreased from infancy to adolescence in all peduncles. Rapid changes were observed in both diffusion measures in the first 24 months of life, followed by gradual change at older ages. The shape of the tract profiles was similar across ages for all peduncles. These data are the first to characterize the variability of diffusion properties both across and within cerebellar white matter pathways that occur from birth through later adolescence. The data represent a rich normative data set against which white matter alterations seen in children with posterior fossa conditions can be compared. Ultimately, the data will facilitate the identification of sensitive biomarkers of cerebellar abnormalities.
小脑-大脑连接对于许多运动和认知功能至关重要，而小脑障碍在儿童中很常见。中脑小脑脚（MCP）、脑桥小脑脚（ICP）和小脑上脚（SCP）是允许小脑与大脑之间进行通信的主要白质通路。关于这些小脑脚在儿童期的微观结构特性的知识有限。在这里，我们报告了一项弥散磁共振成像束流追踪研究，以描述新生儿至 17 岁（N=113）的婴儿、儿童和青少年横断样本中小脑脚的年龄依赖性特征。扫描是作为临床护理的一部分收集的；参与者仅限于那些扫描显示无异常发现且病史和检查无小脑异常风险因素的人。应用了一种新的自动束流追踪方案。结果表明，在所有的小脑脚中，从婴儿期到青少年期，平均束流-FA 增加，而平均束流-MD 减少。在生命的头 24 个月，两种扩散测量值都发生了快速变化，随后在年龄较大时逐渐变化。所有小脑脚的束流轮廓形状在各年龄段都相似。这些数据是首次描述从出生到后期青春期发生的弥散特性在整个小脑白质通路中的变异性。这些数据代表了一个丰富的正常数据集，可以与后颅窝疾病儿童的白质改变进行比较。最终，这些数据将有助于确定小脑异常的敏感生物标志物。
