High resolution diffusion tensor imaging reveals regional-specificity in microstructural development of the healthy human hippocampus over 6-20 years. The whole structure, head, body, and tail were visualized and segmented directly on mean diffusion-weighted images. Whole-structure analyses showed age-related higher FA and lower MD, and substructure analysis revealed that these associations were strongest in the head – a finding corroborated by prior shape analyses showing greater expansion in the hippocampal head during development. This regional-specificity may reflect hippocampal neurogenesis and myelination in coherence with the high concentration of connections that form at the head from childhood into adulthood.
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