Developmental change of brain volume in Rett syndrome in Taiwan

Rett syndrome (RTT) is characterized by neurological regression. This pioneering study investigated the effect of age on brain volume reduction by analyzing magnetic resonance imaging findings in participants with RTT, ranging from toddlers to adults.

Functional evaluation and neuroimaging were performed. All scans were acquired using a Siemens Tim Trio 3 T scanner with a 32-channel head coil.

The total intracranial volume and cerebral white matter volume significantly increased with age in the control group compared with that in the RTT group (p < 0.05). Cortical gray matter volume reduction in the RTT group continued to increase in bilateral parietal lobes and left occipital lobes (p < 0.05). The differences in cortical gray matter volume between typically developing brain and RTT-affected brain may tend to continuously increase until adulthood in both temporal lobes although not significant after correction for multiple comparison.

A significant reduction in brain volume was observed in the RTT group. Cortical gray matter volume in the RTT group continued to reduce in bilateral parietal lobes and left occipital lobes. These results provide a baseline for future studies on the effect of RTT treatment and related neuroscience research.