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Abstract #2472

Distinctive Temporal Changes of FA at Different Cortical Areas of Human Fetal Brain

Hao Huang1, Goran Sedmak2, Tina Jeon1, Paul Yarowsky3, Nenad Sestan2

1Advanced Imaging Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; 2Department of Neurobiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States; 3Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, United States


During brain development, the organized columnar structures in the immature cortex are disrupted by synapse formation and dendrite growth. This process can be revealed with decreased FA in the cortical plate. In this abstract, we aimed to characterize the 4D spatial and temporal FA changes all over the cortical plate and during the second trimester fetal development. The FA distribution is overall inhomogeneous across the cortical plate. Distinctive temporal changes of FA were observed at different functional cortical areas and they may serve as biomarkers of development of these functional areas.