Jae W. Song1,
Paul D. Michell1, James Kolasinski2, Rebecca D.
Folkerth3, Patricia Ellen Grant4, Albert M. Galaburda5,
Emi Takahashi1
1Boston
Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; 2Massachusetts
General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States; 3Brigham and Women's
Hospital, Boston, MA, United States; 4Boston Children's Hospital,
Boston, MA, United States; 5Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,
Boston, MA, United States
We aimed to describe and quantify emerging asymmetry of white matter pathways including limbic (cingulum, fornix) and association pathways (inferior longitudinal fasciculus [ILF], inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus [IFOF], and arcuate fasciculus [AF]) in fetal, newborn, and children younger than 3 years old, using high angular resolution diffusion imaging tractography. Our results suggest that the ILF compared to the IFOF and AF develops laterality during the early developmental stage before 3 years old. Leftward dominant myelination may proceed in ILF during the early developmental stage, and the development of the IFOF and AF may proceed differentially from that of the ILF.