Normative growth trajectories of fetal brain regions validated by satisfactory maturation of neurodevelopmental domains at 2 years of age
We previously constructed a qualitative, 3D ultrasound derived atlas of the normative spatiotemporal dynamics of fetal brain maturation. Here, using the same healthy multi-national cohort, we applied deep learning methods to 4205 fetal brain scans from 18-27 weeks' gestation, to produce an extensive, quantitative description of the growth of 16 fetal brain structures associated with satisfactory domain-specific neurodevelopmental scores at 2 years of age. The methodology, which is publicly available, takes less than 10 seconds per scan. We define 28 region-specific, functionally relevant, normative growth trajectories, a ratio between the relative volumes of the insular (rILV) and parietal (rPLV) lobes reflecting asynchronous maturation of fetal brain regions, and introduce a fetal brain maturation index that quantifies biological age and deviations from chronological age. Finally, the very low percentage of variance explained by between site differences (0.6% to 5.8% of the total variance) reinforces a fundamental biological principle: fetal growth and development across populations with diverse ancestries is similar provided that environmental constraints on growth are minimal.
Authors
- Linde S. Hesse (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7594-5445)
- Robert B. Gunier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5485-9919)
- Enrico Bertino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6369-9352)
- Nicola K. Dinsdale (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1520-1326)
- Mark Jenkinson
- Leila Cheikh Ismail (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3048-7481)
- Ana I. L. Namburete (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9119-436X)
- Madeleine K. Wyburd (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0991-3204)
- Adele Winsey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5020-3984)
- Jose Ramón Toledano Villar
- Wu Q
- Yasmin A. Jaffer
- Manorama Purwar
- A. T. Papageorghiou
- Alan Stein
- Stephen Smith
- Michael G. Gravett
- Michelle Fernandes
- Eric O. Ohuma
- Alison J. Noble
- Zoltán Molnár
- Fernando C. Barros
- Zulfiqar A. Bhutta
- Thomas E. Nichols
Institutions
- Universidade Católica de Pelotas (BR)
- Aga Khan University (PK)
- University of the Witwatersrand (ZA)
- University of Washington (US)
- Peking University (CN)
- Aga Khan University Hospital Nairobi (KE)
- Hospital for Sick Children (CA)
- Aga Khan Development Network (PK)
- Australian Institute of Business (AU)
- University of Sharjah (AE)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Oxford Nanoimaging (United Kingdom) (GB)
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (GB)
- Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance System (ZA)
- Africa Health Research Institute (ZA)
- Ministry of Health (OM)
- Regenerative Medicine Institute (MX)
- Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (OM)
- South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (AU)
- Science Oxford (GB)
- University of Turin (IT)
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-02-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69657-w
- Primary Topic
- Fetal and Pediatric Neurological Disorders
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00