Volumetric analysis of medial temporal lobe structures in brain development from childhood to adolescence

Abstract

Puberty is an important stage of development as a child's sexual and physical characteristics mature because of hormonal changes. To better understand puberty-related effects on brain development, we investigated the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data of 306 subjects from 4 to 18 years of age. Subjects were grouped into before and during puberty groups according to their sexual maturity levels measured by the puberty scores. An appearance model-based automatic segmentation method with patch-based local refinement was employed to segment the MRI data and extract the volumes of medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures including the amygdala (AG), the hippocampus (HC), the entorhinal/perirhinal cortex (EPC), and the parahippocampal cortex (PHC). Our analysis showed age-related volumetric changes for the AG, HC, right EPC, and left PHC but only before puberty. After onset of puberty, these volumetric changes then correlate more with sexual maturity level, as measured by the puberty score. When normalized for brain volume, the volumes of the right HC decrease for boys; the volumes of the left HC increase for girls; and the volumes of the left and right PHC decrease for boys. These findings suggest that the rising levels of testosterone in boys and estrogen in girls might have opposite effects, especially for the HC and the PHC. Our findings on sex-specific and sexual maturity-related volumes may be useful in better understanding the MTL developmental differences and related learning, memory, and emotion differences between boys and girls during puberty.

Impact of puberty on the evolution of cerebral perfusion during adolescence

“…Sex differences in brain structure are well documented (48,49) and are increasingly tied to developmental effects related to puberty (13,46,(50)(51)(52)(53). In particular, several studies have found that puberty in females and rising estrogen is related to increased gray matter in structures such as the hippocampus (51,52,54) that are known to have high density of gonadotropin receptors (55). Because CBF is higher in gray matter than in white matter, these findings underscore the necessity of accounting for changes in brain structure when modeling developmental changes in CBF.…”

Puberty in the corpus callosum

“…Given the aims of the study, only scans that included existing callosal contours (Luders et al, 2010; Luders et al, 2011; Kurth et al, 2012), data on sexual development (Hu et al, 2013), and puberty scores of less than 4—as measured by the Pubertal Development Scale (Petersen et al, 1988)—were included. The Pubertal Developmental Scale has been found to be both valid and reliable in discerning subjects’ pubertal status (Petersen et al, 1988).…”

“…Hu et al, for example, linked pubertal status to volumetric changes in medial temporal lobe structures (Hu et al, 2013). Bramen et al addressed puberty effects on medial temporal lobe, thalamic, caudate, and cortical gray matter volumes as well as on cortical thickness (Bramen et al, 2011; Bramen et al, 2012).…”

Regional Hippocampal Volumes and Development Predict Learning and Memory

“…Several magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have investigated age-related differences or longitudinal changes in hippocampal volumes specifically (table 1). It is clear that the hippocampus undergoes growth in childhood [12,13,14], but studies have given varying results concerning the second decade of life: the majority have not found significant effects [13,14,15,16,17], while others have found volume decreases [18] or increases [19]. Importantly, the hippocampus is anatomically and functionally heterogeneous [20], and insufficient spatial resolution may mask regional developmental patterns.…”