Abstract #0171

Accelerated Human Cortical Microstructural Changes from 35 to 40 Weeks of Gestation Characterized with DTI

Qiaowen Yu¹, Tina Jeon¹, Shuwei Liu², Hao Huang¹

¹Advanced Imaging Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; ²Research Center for Sectional and Imaging Anatomy, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China

High cortical FA in immature cortical plate is related to the organized radial glia. Dendrite and axon growth and synapse formation in the cortical plate disrupt those organized radial glia, causing FA decrease. In this study, we acquired high quality DTI data of human fetal brain at three landmark time points, 19, 35 and 40 weeks of gestation (wg). FA of the complete cortical plate was mapped to the entire cortical surface to reveal the heterogeneous microstructural profile at these three time points. Accelerated cortical development in most cortical areas except BA or M1C/S1C was revealed from 35 to 40wg.