当一个孩子从他或她的狂乱的青少年时期成长到成年时期，其大脑是如何变化的呢？ 根据一项新的研究，对脑部进行为时5分钟扫描的一个详尽的分析就足以对脑的成熟水平提供某种测度。
为了得出这一结论，Nico Dosenbach及其同事用复杂的模式分析软件对238幅来自志愿者（他们的年龄为7-30岁）的功能连接核磁共振成像（fcMRI）脑扫描进行了分析。 明确地说，他们的结果显示，脑中的长距离神经元连接倾向于随着年龄的增长而增加，而短距离连接则会随着时间的推进而变得较弱。 研究人员提出，脑中短距离神经元连接的丧失看来比任何其它因子都更能指示年龄的增长。
他们还提出，一个成熟的脑会以整个脑子中更稀少但更为准确的神经元连接为特征。 Dosenbach及其同事甚至提出，一个快速的、5分钟的功能连接核磁共振成像（fcMRI）脑扫描应该在将来成为辅助医生筛检、诊断和治疗脑功能失常病人的例行措施。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐英文摘要：
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1194144
Prediction of Individual Brain Maturity Using fMRI
Nico U. F. Dosenbach,1,* Binyam Nardos,1 Alexander L. Cohen,1 Damien A. Fair,2 Jonathan D. Power,1 Jessica A. Church,1 Steven M. Nelson,1,3 Gagan S. Wig,1,4,5 Alecia C. Vogel,1 Christina N. Lessov-Schlaggar,6 Kelly Anne Barnes,1 Joseph W. Dubis,1 Eric Feczko,6 Rebecca S. Coalson,1,7 John R. Pruett, Jr.,6 Deanna M. Barch,3,6,7 Steven E. Petersen,1,3,7,8 Bradley L. Schlaggar1,7,8,9,*
Group functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) studies have documented reliable changes in human functional brain maturity over development. Here we show that support vector machine-based multivariate pattern analysis extracts sufficient information from fcMRI data to make accurate predictions about individuals’ brain maturity across development. The use of only 5 minutes of resting-state fcMRI data from 238 scans of typically developing volunteers (ages 7 to 30 years) allowed prediction of individual brain maturity as a functional connectivity maturation index. The resultant functional maturation curve accounted for 55% of the sample variance and followed a nonlinear asymptotic growth curve shape. The greatest relative contribution to predicting individual brain maturity was made by the weakening of short-range functional connections between the adult brain’s major functional networks.
1 Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
2 Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA.
3 Department of Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
4 Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
5 Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.
6 Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
7 Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
8 Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
9 Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
