NIH MRI Study of Normal Brain Development and Pediatric MRI Data Repository


 

This study has tracked brain and behavioral development in more than 500 healthy American children, from birth to young adulthood.  The study will offer new insights into the structural changes that occur during normal brain development and how these changes influence behavior, and it may lead to new brain imaging tools.  The data also provide a control sample for future studies of childhood disorders that affect the brain and are freely available to qualified researchers. 

Investigators at six study sites across the U.S. scanned the children’s brains using anatomic magnetic resonance imaging (aMRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).  A variety of tests were used to measure motor control, language, computation, social skills and aspects of intelligence, and to assess hormonal changes over time.  Although no child was followed for the entire developmental span covered by the study, each child was evaluated for several months to several years, depending on the child’s age.  A Data Coordinating Center at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University is releasing the data in stages.  For more information, see www.NIH-PediatricMRI.org.

Contact:

Lisa Freund, Ph.D.
Chief, Developmental Cognitive Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience, and Psychobiology Branch
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
freundl@mail.nih.gov
(301) 435-6879

The NIH MRI Study of Normal Brain Development is funded primarily by NIMH, NINDS, NICHD and NIDA.  The NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research funded the expansion of the study to include DTI.