Cortical and white matter myelination proceed in concert during early infancy

The infant brain undergoes rapid myelination that is critical for healthy brain function. This development has been characterized for gray and white matter independently, but the link between gray and white matter myelination remains unexplored. To close this knowledge gap, we evaluated two complementary myelin-sensitive imaging metrics: Large-scale (N = 273) T1w/T2w and quantitative (N = 21) R1 data. Automated software was employed to identify 26 white matter bundles and map their cortical terminations, before evaluating T1w/T2w and R1 development shortly after birth. Here we show that for both metrics mean values as well as developmental slopes are correlated across tissues. The synchrony of brain T1w/T2w is impacted by postmenstrual age and prematurity, whereas inter-individual differences in this synchrony predict motor outcomes at 17 - 25 months of age. As T1w/T2w and R1 are associated with myelin content, our results reveal an intricate relationship between gray and white matter myelination.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2026-06-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-73366-9
Primary Topic
Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Cortical and white matter myelination proceed in concert during early infancy

Xiaoqian Yan, John Kruper, Kalanit Grill‐Spector, Ariel Rokem et al.
Nature Communications
Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
article

Cortical and white matter myelination proceed in concert during early infancy

Xiaoqian Yan, John Kruper, Kalanit Grill‐Spector, Ariel Rokem, Stephanie Zika, Mareike Grotheer, Kelly Chang, Christina Tyagi, Sarah Tung, Altan Orhon
article en

Abstract

The infant brain undergoes rapid myelination that is critical for healthy brain function. This development has been characterized for gray and white matter independently, but the link between gray and white matter myelination remains unexplored. To close this knowledge gap, we evaluated two complementary myelin-sensitive imaging metrics: Large-scale (N = 273) T1w/T2w and quantitative (N = 21) R1 data. Automated software was employed to identify 26 white matter bundles and map their cortical terminations, before evaluating T1w/T2w and R1 development shortly after birth. Here we show that for both metrics mean values as well as developmental slopes are correlated across tissues. The synchrony of brain T1w/T2w is impacted by postmenstrual age and prematurity, whereas inter-individual differences in this synchrony predict motor outcomes at 17 - 25 months of age. As T1w/T2w and R1 are associated with myelin content, our results reveal an intricate relationship between gray and white matter myelination.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 17(1)
Philipps University of Marburg (DE), Neurosciences Institute (US), University of Washington (US), Fudan University (CN), Shanghai Institute for Science of Science (CN), Max Planck Institute for Human Development (DE), Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Technology (CN), Seattle University (US), Stanford University (US)
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health
Openalex Percentile: Top 8%
Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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