Growing Together and Growing Apart: Regional and Sex Differences in the Lifespan Developmental Trajectories of Functional Homotopy

• DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2612-10.2010
• Publication Date: 2010-11-10T19:10:28Z
• Authors: Xi-Nian Zuo; Clare Kelly; Adriana Di Martino; Maarten Mennes; Daniel S. Margulies; Saroja Bangaru; Rebecca Grzadzinski; Alan C. Evans; Yu-Feng Zang; F. Xavier Castell...; Michael P. Milham
• Keywords: Adult; Aged, 80 and over; Male; Aging; Brain Mapping; Sex Characteristics; Adolescent; Age Factors; Brain; Middle Aged; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Neural Pathways; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Humans; Female; Child; 10. No inequality; Aged

Functional homotopy, the high degree of synchrony in spontaneous activity between geometrically corresponding interhemispheric (i.e., homotopic) regions, is a fundamental characteristic intrinsic functional architecture brain. However, despite its prominence, lifespan development homotopic resting-state connectivity (RSFC) human brain rarely directly examined magnetic resonance imaging studies. Here, we systematically investigated age-related changes RSFC 214 healthy individuals ranging age from 7 to 85 years. We observed marked with regionally specific developmental trajectories varying levels complexity. Sensorimotor regions tended show increasing RSFC, whereas higher-order processing showed decreasing segregation) age. More complex maturational curves were also detected, such as insula and lingual gyrus exhibiting quadratic superior frontal putamen cubic trajectories. Sex-related differences trajectory homotopy detected within dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann areas 9 46) amygdala. Evidence robust effects across should serve motivate studies physiological mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative psychiatric disorders.