Diffusion tensor imaging of hemispheric asymmetries in the developing brain

J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2009 Feb;31(2):205-18. doi: 10.1080/13803390802098118. Epub 2008 Dec 3.

Abstract

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed in 39 right-handed children to examine structural hemispheric differences and the impact of age, socioeconomic status, and sex on these differences. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were smaller in the left than in the right temporal, prefrontal, anterior internal capsular and the thalamic regions, and fractional anisotropy (FA) values were larger in the left than in the right internal capsule, thalamus, and cingulate. Significant region-by-sex interactions disclosed that the relation of DTI asymmetries to performance depended on sex including the relation of temporal lobes to reading comprehension and the relation of frontal lobes to solving applied mathematical problems.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Age Factors
  • Anisotropy
  • Brain / anatomy & histology*
  • Brain / growth & development*
  • Brain Mapping*
  • Child
  • Child Development / physiology*
  • Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Dominance, Cerebral / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Linear Models
  • Male
  • Sex Factors
  • Socioeconomic Factors