Burst of gyrification in the human brain after birth
Guillaume Auzias
PI équipe CanoP – INT, Marseille

Résumé
Gyrification, the intricate folding of the brain’s cortex, begins mid-gestation and surges dramatically throughout the perinatal period. Yet, a critical factor has been largely overlooked in neurodevelopmental research: the profound impact of birth on brain structure. Leveraging the largest known perinatal MRI dataset—819 sessions spanning 21 to 45 postconceptional weeks— we introduce a new unified MRI processing pipeline specifically designed to compensate for uncontrolled variations in cortical measures induced by different acquisition protocols between fetuses and postnatal participants. Through a regression discontinuity statistical approach, we reveal a birth-related discontinuity in the trajectory of gyrification—an effect absent in tissue volume trajectories. This burst in gyrification amounts to half the entire gyrification expansion occurring during the fetal period. This new finding warrants consideration in future research on early brain morphology in both typical and atypical neurodevelopmental trajectories.

Invité par Jean-Bernard Manent

Lundi 2 février 2026 à 11h – salle de conférence de l’Inmed