Through dynamic transactional processes between genetic and environmental factors, childhood and adolescence involve reorganization and optimization of the cerebral cortex. The cortex and its development plays a crucial role for prototypical human cognitive abilities. At the same time, many common mental disorders appear during these critical phases of neurodevelopment. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can indirectly capture several multifaceted changes of cortical macro- and microstructure, of high relevance to further our understanding of the neural foundation of cognition and mental health. Great progress has been made recently in mapping the typical development of cortical morphology. Moreover, newer less explored MRI signal intensity and specialized quantitative T2 measures have been applied to assess microstructural cortical development. We review recent findings of typical postnatal macro- and microstructural development of the cerebral cortex from early childhood to young adulthood. We cover studies of cortical volume, thickness, area, gyrification, T1-weighted (T1w) tissue contrasts such a grey/white matter contrast, T1w/T2w ratio, magnetization transfer and myelin water fraction. Finally, we integrate imaging studies with cortical gene expression findings to further our understanding of the underlying neurobiology of the developmental changes, bridging the gap between ex vivo histological- and in vivo MRI studies.

通过遗传和环境因素之间的动态交易过程，儿童和青春期涉及大脑皮层的重组和优化。皮层及其发育对于典型的人类认知能力起着至关重要的作用。与此同时，在神经发育的这些关键阶段会出现许多常见的精神障碍。磁共振成像 (MRI) 可以间接捕捉皮质宏观和微观结构的多个多方面变化，这与我们进一步了解认知和心理健康的神经基础高度相关。最近在绘制皮质形态的典型发展方面取得了很大进展。此外，新的较少探索的 MRI 信号强度和专门的定量 T2 测量已应用于评估微结构皮质发育。我们回顾了从儿童早期到成年早期大脑皮层典型的产后宏观和微观结构发育的最新发现。我们涵盖了皮质体积、厚度、面积、脑回、T1 加权 (T1w) 组织对比的研究，例如灰质/白质对比、T1w/T2w 比率、磁化转移和髓鞘水分数。最后，我们将影像学研究与皮质基因表达发现相结合，以进一步了解发育变化的潜在神经生物学，弥合两者之间的差距 磁化转移和髓鞘水分数。最后，我们将影像学研究与皮质基因表达发现相结合，以进一步了解发育变化的潜在神经生物学，弥合两者之间的差距 磁化转移和髓鞘水分数。最后，我们将影像学研究与皮质基因表达发现相结合，以进一步了解发育变化的潜在神经生物学，弥合两者之间的差距体外组织学和体内 MRI 研究。