Kim, Michael E.; Gao, Chenyu; Ramadass, Karthik; Newlin, Nancy R.; Kanakaraj, Praitayini; Bogdanov, Sam; Rudravaram, Gaurav; Archer, Derek; Hohman, Timothy J.; Jefferson, Angela L.; Morgan, Victoria L.; Roche, Alexandra; Englot, Dario J.; Resnick, Susan M.; Beason-Held, Lori L.; Cutting, Laurie E.; Barquero, Laura A.; D鈥檃rchangel, Micah A.; Nguyen, Tin Q.; Humphreys, Kathryn L.; Niu, Yanbin; Vinci-Booher, Sophia; Cascio, Carissa J.; Albert, Marilyn; Toga, Arthur; O鈥橞ryant, Sid; Davis, L. Taylor; Li, Zhiyuan; Vandekar, Simon N.; Zhang, Panpan; Gore, John C.; Landman, Bennett A.; Schilling, Kurt G. (2026).听.听Nature.听
The human brain depends on a network of connections to work properly, and white matter is the part that carries signals between different brain regions, much like a communication highway. When these pathways are disrupted, they are linked to many neurological, psychiatric, and developmental disorders. Doctors already use growth charts to track how children grow, and researchers have also created reference charts for whole-brain size and gray matter, but until now there has not been a similar standard for white matter. This study fills that gap by creating lifespan reference charts for human brain white matter. The researchers analyzed and standardized 35,120 brain scans from studies around the world to show how white matter pathways normally develop from birth to age 100, including growth, maturation, and later decline. These charts provide a baseline for healthy brain development and aging, so researchers and clinicians can compare an individual鈥檚 brain with typical patterns and identify unusual changes linked to disease. Because the charts are open access, they can also be used broadly in future clinical and neuroscience research.
Fig. 1: Global WM brain charts across the human lifespan.