Morphological changes of the choroid plexus in the lateral ventricle across the lifespan: 5551 subjects from fetus to elderly
Jiaxin Li, Yuxuan Gao, Yunzhi Xu, Weiying Dai, Yueqin Hu, Xue Feng, Dan Wu, Li Zhao
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The developmental trajectory and aging process of the choroid plexus (ChP) in humans remain largely unexplored, and normative growth standards for ChP across the lifespan are lacking. METHODS: High-resolution magnetic resonance images were collected from cohorts of 5551 subjects, ranging in age from 21 gestational weeks to 90 years. ChP segmentation was performed using a combination of automated pipeline and manual annotations. The ChP volume, the ratio of ChP to brain parenchyma, and the ratio of ChP to brain ventricle were modeled using linear and quadratic regression. Additional morphological features of the ChP were investigated. RESULTS: The absolute and relative volumes of the ChP throughout lifespan were provided, including growth charts and a normative reference table. In addition, the morphological features, including max 3D diameter, flatness, and elongation of the ChP, reveal the turning points of fetal brain developments in the third trimester. Furthermore, the ratio of ChP-to-lateral ventricle, the ratio of ChP-to-brain parenchyma, flatness, and elongation of the ChP reveal characteristics of brain aging beginning at 30 years old. The enhanced ChP segmentation pipeline is available on GitHub: https://github.com/princeleeee/ChP-Seg. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a baseline measurement of ChP across the lifespan, which reveals ChP characteristics in brain development and aging.