Population-wide cerebellar growth models of children and adolescents

Abstract

In the past, the cerebellum has been best known for its crucial role in motor function. However, increasingly more findings highlight the importance of cerebellar contributions in cognitive functions and neurodevelopment. Using a total of 7240 neuroimaging scans from 4862 individuals, we describe and provide detailed, openly available models of cerebellar development in childhood and adolescence (age range: 6–17 years), an important time period for brain development and onset of neuropsychiatric disorders. Next to a traditionally used anatomical parcellation of the cerebellum, we generated growth models based on a recently proposed functional parcellation. In both, we find an anterior-posterior growth gradient mirroring the age-related improvements of underlying behavior and function, which is analogous to cerebral maturation patterns and offers evidence for directly related cerebello-cortical developmental trajectories. Finally, we illustrate how the current approach can be used to detect cerebellar abnormalities in clinical samples.

Heritability of cerebellar subregion volumes in adolescent and young adult twins

“…Within a similar age range (8–30 years), Koolschijn and Crone ( 2013 ) reported larger cerebellar grey matter volume in males than in females (controlling for ICV). The sparse sex effects in the QTAB dataset are similar to the results in adolescents reported by Isiklar et al ( 2023 ) and Gaiser et al ( 2024 ). However, these results are inconsistent with the findings of Rice et al ( 2023 ), in which a greater number of regions showed significant sex effects (controlling for ICV) in similarly aged participants.…”

“…Differences in heritability estimates may also reflect developmental differences between cerebellar subregions. Gaiser et al ( 2024 ) recently published cerebellar growth models in 4862 children and adolescents (6–17 years). Here, the authors showed smaller age‐related effects on cerebellar volume for anterior lobules (III–V), and larger age‐related effects in posterior lobules (VI–X) and the corpus medullare.…”

“…We found only minor effects of age on cerebellar volumes, comparable to results in a similar paediatric sample (Rice et al, 2023 ) and consistent with findings showing cerebellar age effects are more prominent in middle to older age (Bernard & Seidler, 2014 ). Further, we were limited to examining cross‐sectional age effects; longitudinal growth trajectories are better placed to track cerebellar development during adolescence (Gaiser et al, 2024 ).…”

“…Sex effects due to differences in developmental trajectories may also explain why sex effects were less prominent in the QTAB dataset. (Gaiser et al, 2024).…”

“…We observe some similarity between this functional gradient and the heritability estimates of the present study; heritability estimates are lower for lobules IV, V, and VIII and higher for lobules Crus I and IX. While comparing functional gradients with lobule-based heritability estimates is difficult (as functional gradients are freely estimated and not constrained to anatomical boundaries), these similarities warrant further investigation in larger samples through voxel-wise heritability estimates of structural and functional cerebellar phenotypes.Differences in heritability estimates may also reflect developmental differences between cerebellar subregions Gaiser et al (2024). recently published cerebellar growth models in 4862 children and adolescents (6-17 years).…”