Discordance of prenatal and neonatal brain development in twins

BackgroundDiscordance of birth weight has been observed in twin pairs, though little is known about prenatal and early neonatal discordance of head and brain size, and the role that zygosity and chorionicity play in discordances of early brain development in twins.AimsTo compare prenatal and neonatal discordances of head size in monozygotic–monochorionic (MZ–MC), monozygotic–dichorionic (MZ–DC), and same-sex dizygotic–dichorionic twin pairs (DZ).Study designSubjects prospectively had ultrasounds at 22 and 32 weeks gestational age, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain MRI after birth.Subjects88 twin pairs recruited from two university hospital prenatal diagnostic clinics; 22 MZ–MC, 17 MZ–DC, and 49 same-sex DZ pairs.Outcome measuresDiscordance of head circumference (HC) and weight at 22 weeks, 32 weeks and birth, as well as intracranial volume (ICV) on neonatal MRI.ResultsThere were no group differences in discordance of head circumference and weight on the 22 or 32 week ultrasounds, or at birth. MZ–MC twins tended to have numerically greater discordances of HC and weight. There was a significant group difference in ICV on neonatal MRI (ANOVA, p = 0.0143), with DZ twins having significantly greater discordance than MZ–MC (p = 0.028) or MZ–DC (p = 0.0131) twins.ConclusionsThis study indicates that zygosity and chorionicity do not contribute to significant discordances of head size in late prenatal development. DZ twins do have significantly greater discordances of ICV on neonatal MRI, suggesting a relatively greater genetic influence on brain growth in the first weeks after birth.