Variation in infant subcortical brain development from 6 to 12 months in Down syndrome

Across infancy (6–12 months), infants with Down syndrome show widespread reductions in subcortical volumes and slower growth, with the right putamen uniquely enlarged by 5.3% at 6 months.

• Why it matters: Smaller brain volumes in Down syndrome are known, but longitudinal infant neuroimaging of regional subcortical development is lacking during the period when interventions might be most impactful.
• What they did: In a multisite cohort of 44 infants with Down syndrome and 39 controls, T1/T2 scans acquired during natural sleep at 6 and 12 months were harmonized and segmented using a deep-learning repeated-measures approach; hierarchical linear modeling tested longitudinal group differences for bilateral subcortical volumes.
• The result: ICV was lower in Down syndrome by 12.6% at 6 months and 16.3% at 12 months, and subcortical volumes were reduced by 6.9%–13.1% (p’s<.003), while amygdala and putamen growth matched controls and the right putamen was larger by 5.3% at 6 months (p=.018).

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