Fetal brain development in chimpanzees versus humans

Abstract

Summary It is argued that the extraordinary brain enlargement observed in humans is due to not only the human-specific pattern of postnatal brain development, but also to that of prenatal brain development [1,2]. However, the prenatal trajectory of brain development has not been explored in chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ), even though they are our closest living relatives. To address this lack of information, we tracked fetal development of the chimpanzee brain from approximately 14 to 34 weeks of gestation (just before birth) in utero using three-dimensional ultrasound imaging. The results were compared with those obtained for the human brain during approximately the same period. We found that the brain volume of chimpanzee fetuses was only half that of human fetuses at 16 weeks of gestation. Moreover, although the growth velocity of brain volume increased until approximately 22 weeks of gestation in both chimpanzees and humans, chimpanzee fetuses did not show the same accelerated increase in brain volume as human fetuses after that time. This suggests that maintenance of fast development of the human brain during intrauterine life has contributed to the remarkable brain enlargement observed in humans.