Age-related volumetric changes of brain gray and white matter in healthy infants and children

To date there is little information about brain development during infancy and childhood, although several quantitative studies have shown volume chan ges in adult brains. We performed three-dimensional magnetic resonance imag ing (3D-MRI) in 28 healthy children aged 1 month to 10 years, We examined t he volumes of whole brain and frontal and temporal lobes with an advanced m ethod for segmenting images into gray matter (GM), white matter (WM) and ce rebrospinal fluid (CSF) compartments. Growth spurts of whole brain and fron tal and temporal lobes could be seen during the first 2 years after birth. During this period the frontal robes grew more rapidly than the temporal lo bes, the right-left asymmetry was more noticeable in the temporal lobes tha n in the frontal lobes and the increase in GM was larger than that in WM in the temporal lobes. Subsequently, WM volume increased at a higher rate tha n GM volume throughout childhood. Quantitative information on normal brain development may play a pivotal role in clarifying brain neurodevelopmental abnormalities.