Elsevier

Seminars in Perinatology

Volume 33, Issue 4, August 2009, Pages 208-219
Seminars in Perinatology

Normal Development of the Fetal Brain by MRI

https://doi.org/10.1053/j.semperi.2009.04.009Get rights and content

The fetal brain is a dynamic structure, which can now be imaged using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This article will review techniques of fetal MRI as well as several key aspects of brain development and their appearance on MRI. An understanding of normal fetal brain development is essential to correctly identifying developmental abnormalities.

Section snippets

Fetal MRI Techniques

Fetal MRI is routinely performed on a 1.5-Tesla scanner without maternal or fetal sedation. The mother lies supine during the course of the examination, the duration of which is typically 45 to 60 minutes. If the mother cannot tolerate lying on her back (eg, because of back pain or compression of the inferior vena cava), then the examination can be performed with the mother lying on her left side. To reduce fetal motion, the mother is kept NPO (nothing by mouth) for 4 hours before the MR

Ventricles

The walls of the ventricles are critical to normal brain development and can be evaluated with fetal MRI. They are comprised of the ventricular zone (or germinal matrix), which gives rise to the brain substance and is considered the innermost layer of the fetal cerebral hemisphere (see later in the text). The ventricular zone, therefore, is very thick earlier in gestation (Fig. 6). It appears as a smooth band of dark T2 signal and bright T1 signal lining the lateral ventricles. It is thicker at

Conclusion

Fetal brain development is a highly dynamic and complex process. Its appearance can now be imaged in vivo with fetal MRI. An understanding of embryologic aspects of brain development and their correlative appearance on MRI is critical to interpreting clinical fetal MR images.

References (80)

  • H. Nakamura et al.

    Isthmus organizer for midbran and hindbrain development

    Brain Res Rev

    (2005)
  • C. Sotelo

    Cellular and genetic regulation of the development of the cerebellar system

    Prog Neurobiol

    (2004)
  • R. Busse et al.

    On-Demand Real-Time Imaging: Interactive Multislice Acquisition Applied to Prostate and Fetal Imaging

    (2002)
  • S. Jiang et al.

    MRI of moving subjects using multislice snapshot images with volume reconstruction (SVR): application to fetal, neonatal, and adult brain studies

    IEEE Trans Med Imaging

    (2007)
  • F. Rousseau et al.

    A novel approach to high resolution fetal brain MR imaging

    Med image Comput Comput Assist Interv Int Conference

    (2005)
  • I. Bystron et al.

    Development of the human cerebral cortex: boulder committee revisited

    Nature

    (2008)
  • Y. Kinoshita et al.

    Volumetric analysis of the germinal matrix and lateral ventricles performed using MR images of the postmortem fetuses

    AJNR

    (2001)
  • J.C. Larroche et al.

    Central nervous system

  • J.D. Cardoza et al.

    Exclusion of fetal ventriculomegaly with a single measurement: the width of the lateral ventricular atrium

    Radiology

    (1988)
  • R.A. Filly et al.

    The fetal ventricular atrium: fourth down and 10mm to go

    Radiology

    (1994)
  • R. Alagappan et al.

    Distal lateral ventricular atrium: reevaluation of normal range

    Radiology

    (1994)
  • T.A. Farrell et al.

    Fetal lateral ventricles: reassessment of normal values for atrial diameter at US

    Radiology

    (1994)
  • D. Levine et al.

    MR imaging appearance of fetal cerebral ventricular morphology

    Radiology

    (2002)
  • C. Parazzini et al.

    Prenatal magnetic resonance imaging: brain normal linear biometric values below 24 gestational weeks

    Neuroradiology

    (2008)
  • C. Garel et al.

    Coronal measurement of the fetal lateral ventricles: comparison between ulrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging

    Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol

    (2006)
  • M. Marin-Padilla

    Origin, formation, and prenatal maturation of the human cerebral cortex: an overview

    J Craniofac Genet Dev Biol

    (1990)
  • I. Bystron et al.

    The first neurons of the human cerebral cortex

    Nat Neurosci

    (2006)
  • K. Letinic et al.

    Origin of GABAergic neurons in the human neocortex

    Nature

    (2002)
  • J.I. Heng et al.

    Neurotransmitters regulate cell migration in the telencephalon

    Eur J Neurosci

    (2007)
  • O. Marin et al.

    Cell migration in the forebrain

    Annu Rev Neurosci

    (2003)
  • M. Sur et al.

    Patterning and plasticity of the cerebral cortex

    Science

    (2005)
  • I. Kostovic et al.

    Laminar organization of the human fetal cerebrum revealed by histochemical markers and magnetic resonance imaging

    Cereb Cortex

    (2002)
  • I. Kostovic et al.

    Subplate zone of the human brain: historical perspective and new concepts

    Coll Antropol

    (2008)
  • I. Kostovic et al.

    Developmental history of the transient subplate zone in the visual and somatosensory cortex of the macaque monkey

    J Comp Neurol

    (1990)
  • C. Garel

    MRI of the Fetal Brain: Normal Development and Cerebral Pathologies

    (2004)
  • C. Garel et al.

    Normal gestational landmarks for cerebral biometry, gyration and myelination

    Childs Nerv Syst

    (2003)
  • B. Tilea et al.

    Cerebral biometry in fetal magnetic resonance imaging: new reference data

    Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol

    (2009)
  • H. Brisse et al.

    Supratentorial parenchyma in the developing fetal brain: in vitro MR study with histologic comparison

    Am J Neuroradiol

    (1997)
  • B.W. Chong et al.

    A magnetic resonance template for normal neuronal migration in the fetus

    Neurosurgery

    (1996)
  • N. Girard et al.

    In vivo MRI of fetal brain cellular migration

    J Comput Assist Tomogr

    (1992)
  • Cited by (46)

    • Fetal Brain Anatomy

      2022, Neuroimaging Clinics of North America
      Citation Excerpt :

      Focal scalp masses should be ruled out. Another intracranial structure visualized on fetal MRI is the pituitary stalk, which can be detected on coronal or sagittal images as early as 19 gestational weeks and in all fetuses after 25 weeks of gestation13,43(Fig. 20). The olfactory sulci and bulbs can be reliably detected in the coronal plane after 30 weeks of gestation44 (Fig. 21).

    • Magnetic resonance imaging of the developing fetal brain structures

      2021, Factors Affecting Neurodevelopment: Genetics, Neurology, Behavior, and Diet
    • Growth trajectories of the human fetal brain in healthy and complicated pregnancies and associations with neurodevelopmental outcome in the early life course

      2020, Early Human Development
      Citation Excerpt :

      In this study, associations were found between neurodevelopment and specifically left or right brain trajectories. Studies have shown that left-right asymmetry in cortical folding is a normal developmental phenomena prenatally [43]. This phenomena makes it difficult to hypothesize why specifically left or right brain trajectories are associated.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text