With the Use of MRI Scan Data Cerebral Cortex of Human Brain was Easily Mapped
Scientists have been mapping the surface of the cerebral cortex of the young human brain in high resolution. The mapping has been using the high-quality magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data that showed development within the key regions of the brain from two months before an individual's birth to two months after it. The researchers have believed that this accomplishment would likely aid future research on brain development and would serve as a new approach for studying human brain development conditions like autism and schizophrenia.
HIGHLIGHTS
- MRI data showed development in the key regions of the brain
- There was a failure in gaining a deeper understanding of this developmental stage
- The research team would even identify the sex difference in the development
Well, cerebral cortex has been considered as a sheet of brain cells that would wrap around the brain and would be considered as the evolutionary and advanced region of the brain. It has been in larger shape in humans than the other mammal and was responsible for functions like language abilities and abstract reasoning.
From the trimester of maternity to the initial two years of life, dynamic cortical development has been witnessed. The cortex tends to get thicker during this period and would grow rapidly in terms of surface area by forming complicated cortical folds. The researchers have joined disruptions during this cortical thickening and growth to schizophrenia and autism. However, due to lack of high-resolution mapping of this period, scientists were witnessing a failure in gaining a deeper understanding of this developmental stage within the fetal-to-toddler age range.
In one of the new study, researchers from the University of North Carolina Health Care have collected a collection of 1,037 high-quality MRIs of infants from the trimester to the two years age time period. The scan information was then analyzed by the team which used computer-based image processing methods. With this, they have divided the cortical surface into a virtual mesh which had small circular areas and measured the surface growth rate for every of those areas.
The team was able to outline eighteen distinct regions and had founded that they correlate well with their existing data of the cortex's functional organs. As per Gang Li, assistance professor of radiology at the UNC College of Medicine, “all these regions show dramatic growth in surface area throughout this developmental window, with every region having a definite trajectory.”
The map had discovered that every region of the cortex had identical developmental path as its counterpart within the opposite hemisphere. Along with this, the team would even identify the sex difference in the development.
Recently, the team has been aiming to cast the net wider and use the approach to check scan datasets of youngsters with autism or alternative neurodevelopmental conditions.
