Molecular signatures of cortical expansion in the human foetal brain
The third trimester of human gestation is characterised by rapid increases in brain volume and cortical surface area. Recent studies have revealed a remarkable molecular diversity across the prenatal cortex but little is known about how this diversity translates into the differential rates of cortical expansion observed during gestation. We present a digital resource, μBrain, to facilitate knowledge translation between molecular and anatomical descriptions of the prenatal brain. Using μBrain, we evaluate the molecular signatures of preferentially-expanded cortical regions, quantified in utero using magnetic resonance imaging. Our findings demonstrate a spatial coupling between areal differences in the timing of neurogenesis and rates of neocortical expansion during gestation. We identify genes, upregulated from mid-gestation, that are highly expressed in rapidly expanding neocortex and implicated in genetic disorders with cognitive sequelae. The μBrain atlas provides a tool to comprehensively map early brain development across domains, model systems and resolution scales.
Authors
- A. David Edwards (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4801-7066)
- Stuart Oldham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9619-6102)
- Marc L. Seal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8396-140X)
- Aaron Alexander‐Bloch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6554-1893)
- Vanessa Kyriakopoulou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9883-0314)
- Jana Hutter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3476-3500)
- Gareth Ball (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3509-1435)
- Jakob Seidlitz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8164-7476)
- Anthony N. Price (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6907-7554)
- Emma C. Robinson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7886-3426)
- Joseph V. Hajnal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2690-5495)
- Logan Z. J. Williams (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5392-7043)
- Vyacheslav Karolis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2074-6910)
Institutions
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (US)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- King's College London (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (GB)
- Translational Therapeutics (United States) (US)
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute (AU)
- Lifespan (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2024-11-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54034-2
- Citations
- 16
- Primary Topic
- Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.48
Funders
- Wellcome
- Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Research Institute
- Children's Hospital Foundation
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute
- Royal Children's Hospital Foundation
- European Commission
- Commonwealth Scholarship Commission
- University of Melbourne
- State Government of Victoria
- Seventh Framework Programme
- Medical Research Council
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- National Institute of Mental Health