Maturation of the Human Cerebral Cortex During Adolescence: Myelin or Dendritic Arbor?. (28th August 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Patel, Y; Shin, J; Gowland, P A; Pausova, Z; Paus, T
• Is Part Of: Cerebral cortex. Volume 29:Number 8(2019)
• Page Start: 3351
• Page End: 3362
• Publication Date: 2018-08-28
• Subjects: magnetic resonance imaging -- magnetization transfer -- membrane model -- neurons -- virtual histology; Cerebral cortex -- Periodicals; Brain -- Periodicals; 612.825
• DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhy204
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1047-3211

Abstract

Abstract: Previous in vivo studies revealed robust age-related variations in structural properties of the human cerebral cortex during adolescence. Neurobiology underlying these maturational phenomena is largely unknown. Here we employ a virtual-histology approach to gain insights into processes associated with inter-regional variations in cortical microstructure and its maturation, as indexed by magnetization transfer ratio (MTR). Inter-regional variations in MTR correlate with inter-regional variations in expression of genes specific to pyramidal cells (CA1) and ependymal cells; enrichment analyses indicate involvement of these genes in dendritic growth. On the other hand, inter-regional variations in the change of MTR during adolescence correlate with inter-regional profiles of oligodendrocyte-specific gene expression. Complemented by a quantitative hypothetical model of the contribution of surfaces associated with dendritic arbor (1631 m 2 ) and myelin (48 m 2 ), these findings suggest that MTR signals are driven mainly by macromolecules associated with dendritic arbor while maturational changes in the MTR signal are associated with myelination.