Altered Long-Range Phase Synchronization and Cortical Activation in Children Born Very Preterm

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Pediatrics

Background:

• Children born very preterm often experience visuospatial and executive function deficits.
• Underlying cortical processing alterations linked to these deficits remain poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate differences in cortical processing and functional connectivity during a visual short-term memory task in very preterm children compared to full-term controls.
• To identify specific alterations in brain activity related to prematurity.

Main Methods:

• Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to record brain activity in 8 very preterm children (≤32 weeks gestational age) and 8 full-term controls.
• A visual short-term memory (STM) task was administered.
• Analysis included long-range phase synchronization in alpha and theta bands and cortical activation using synthetic aperture magnetometry (SAM) beamformer in the gamma band.

Main Results:

• Very preterm children exhibited reduced alpha-band and increased theta-band long-range phase synchronization during STM retention compared to controls.
• Cortical activation patterns differed, with reduced activation in occipital, parietal, and frontal cortex observed in very preterm children.
• Control children showed sequential activation of occipital, parietal, and frontal cortex.

Conclusions:

• Children born very preterm display altered inter-regional functional connectivity and cortical activation during cognitive tasks.
• These findings suggest specific neurophysiological differences associated with very preterm birth that may underlie cognitive deficits.