Mapping early corpus callosum development to identify neurodevelopmental risk.

ABSTRACT: This study investigated early childhood corpus callosum development, a critical process for cognitive maturation and implicated in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), using sex-specific growth curve models. Structural MRI data from 295 typically developing children (TDC; aged 1-6 years) were used to model age- and sex-dependent changes in ten morphometric parameters, including subregion volumes and midsagittal plane features. Analyses revealed nonlinear developmental trajectories, region-specific growth rates, and earlier developmental peaks in females. We applied these normative models to an independent dataset of 41 TDC and 26 children with ASD, acquired on a different scanner. Classifiers trained on deviations from the growth curves accurately distinguished children with ASD from TDC (mean

SUBMITTER: Mao B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12396562 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature