Heterochronous regional white matter development in pre-adolescent children: diffusion kurtosis imaging study

Diffusion tensor imaging, and, more recently, diffusion kurtosis imaging enables the examination of white matter connectivity and of in vivo microstructural changes across the lifespan. However, only very few diffusion kurtosis imaging studies have addressed white matter maturation. Here we explore which specific brain regions continue to develop throughout late childhood into the adulthood as revealed by kurtosis tensor metrics. We show the potential of these metrics as maturation-sensitive biomakers capable of elucidating maturation heterochronicity of various white matter tract groups, such as association, projection, and commissural fibres.