Longchuan Li1,2, Sarah Shultz1, Xiaoping Hu2, Ami Klin1, and Warren Jones1
1Marcus Autism Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States, 2Biomedical Imaging Technology Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
We used diffusion tractography and
network theory to examine the organizational development of the brain in
typical infants in their first 6 months of life. Data were longitudinally
sampled at randomized time points between birth and 6 months and collected on a
Siemens 3T TIM Trio system with 32-channel coil using multiband techniques. We
found that network-based metrics may reveal unique information in the
organizational principles of the brain and its development that is impossible
with conventional methods focusing on specific pathways and regions,
demonstrating the usefulness of the approach in studying early typical brain
development and its disruptions.
