PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Linn Bonaventure Norbom
AU  - Jaroslav Rokicki
AU  - Dag Alnaes
AU  - Tobias Kaufmann
AU  - Nhat Trung Doan
AU  - Ole A Andreassen
AU  - Lars Tjelta Westlye
AU  - Christian K. Tamnes
TI  - Maturation of cortical microstructure and cognitive development in childhood and adolescence: a T1w/T2w ratio MRI study
AID  - 10.1101/681221
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 681221
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/01/28/681221.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/01/28/681221.full
AB  - The restructuring and optimization of the cerebral cortex from early childhood and through adolescence is an essential feature of human brain development, underlying immense cognitive improvements. Beyond established morphometric cortical assessments, the T1w/T2w ratio quantifies partly separate biological processes, and might inform models of typical neurocognitive development and developmental psychopathology. In the present study, we computed vertex-wise T1w/T2w ratio across the cortical surface in 621 youths (3-21 years) sampled from the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics (PING) study and tested for associations with individual differences in age, sex, and both general and specific cognitive abilities. The results showed a near global linear age-related increase in T1w/T2w ratio across the brain surface, with a general posterior to anterior increasing gradient in association strength. Moreover, results indicated that boys in late adolescence had regionally higher T1w/T2w ratio as compared to girls. Across individuals, T1w/T2w ratio was negatively associated with general and several specific cognitive abilities mainly within anterior cortical regions. Our study indicates age-related differences in T1w/T2w ratio throughout childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, in line with the known protracted myelination of the cortex. Moreover, the study supports the relevance of the T1w/T2w ratio as a neuroimaging marker for cognitive development.