Abstract
In this study, we construct a spatio-temporal surface atlas of the developing cerebral cortex, which is an important tool for analysing and understanding normal and abnormal cortical development. In utero Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of 80 healthy fetuses was performed, with a gestational age range of 21.7 to 38.9weeks. Topologically correct cortical surface models were extracted from reconstructed 3D MRI volumes. Accurate correspondences were obtained by applying a joint spectral analysis to cortices for sets of subjects close to a specific age. Sulcal alignment was found to be accurate in comparison to spherical demons, a state of the art registration technique for aligning 2D cortical representations (average Fréchet distance≈0.4mm at 30weeks). We construct consistent, unbiased average cortical surface templates, for each week of gestation, from age-matched groups of surfaces by applying kernel regression in the spectral domain. These were found to accurately capture the average cortical shape of individuals within the cohort, suggesting a good alignment of cortical geometry. Each spectral embedding and its corresponding cortical surface template provide a dual reference space where cortical geometry is aligned and a vertex-wise morphometric analysis can be undertaken.
Highlights
The cerebral cortex, a thin layer of neural tissue lining the cerebrum, plays a key role in high level brain functions such as memory, sensory perception, language and consciousness (Kandel, 2013)
The aim in this paper is to develop an atlas construction framework to generate a set of accurate average cortical surface templates, which will give a longitudinal reference space for surface morphometry
MR images were first segmented into basic tissue types using an expectation maximisation (EM) algorithm (Makropoulos et al, 2014), including cortical grey matter (GM), white matter (WM), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the deep grey nuclei, lateral ventricles, brain stem and cerebellum
Summary
The cerebral cortex, a thin layer of neural tissue lining the cerebrum, plays a key role in high level brain functions such as memory, sensory perception, language and consciousness (Kandel, 2013). Cortical folding is an important neurodevelopmental process that occurs largely in the third trimester of pregnancy, where the surface of the cerebral cortex transforms rapidly from a smooth sheet into a highly convoluted arrangement of gyri and sulci (Garel et al, 2001). It is thought that abnormal cortical folding could lead to neurocognitive deficiencies. Dubois et al (2008) found that fetuses with intra-uterine growth restriction, which is a risk factor for developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia (Geva et al, 2006), had measurable structural abnormalities at birth that were associated with a lower neurobehavioural development score at term equivalent age.
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