Prenatal and early postnatal periods differentially shape the maturation of human cortical microstructure and myelin

During late gestation and early postnatal development a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors drive the maturation of the human cortex. This process is regionally heterogeneous, with cortical areas developing at different paces and trajectories. Leveraging submillimetre T1-weighted/T2w-weighted (T1w/T2w) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from pre- and full-term neonates (n = 599, 26–44 weeks), we sampled intracortical profiles across the cortex and characterized the profiles’ shapes according to their central moments. We found that gestational age at birth dominated the effects on early cortical development, with significant, global increases in intracortical homogeneity and a bimodal change in the balance of myelin-sensitive signal between superficial and deeper cortical layers. On the other hand, weeks since birth (i.e., postnatal age) exhibited different effects on myelin, with increasing intracortical heterogeneity and intracortical balance only shifting towards deeper layers in posterior temporal, occipital, medial parietal areas and some prefrontal areas. These effects align with low spatial-frequency geometric eigenmodes of the human cortex, specifically the anterior–posterior and superior-inferior axes. Our findings demonstrate that separating prenatal from postnatal influences, and analyzing intracortical profiles rather than macroscale features, provides finer-grained insights into how human cortical myelin changes during perinatal development and lays the groundwork for investigating the biological underpinnings that govern normative cortical maturation.How prenatal and postnatal periods shape the developing human cortex is not well understood. Using neonatal MRI, this study shows that time in the womb drives widespread, uniform maturation, whereas time after birth produces more region- and depth-specific changes across the cortex.