Early Neonatal Brain Development: Correlation Between DTI and MRS

Lynn Michelle Anderson¹, Linda Chang¹, Steven Buchthal¹, Brian Keating¹, Christine Cloak¹, Thomas Ernst¹

Normal infant brain development was evaluated using both DTI and MRS. Apparent diffusion (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) were correlated to brain metabolites within the same MRS voxel in 5 brain regions. With increasing postconceptional age, increases in FA and decreases in ADC were associated with increases in NA, in the frontal white matter, which reflect more coherent fiber organization and axonal growth. Similar age-related changes in DTI measures in the CST were associated with decreased MI which suggests myelination or a reduction in radial glia. Decreased tCr and CHO in the FGM combined with decreased ADC suggest cellular pruning.