The development of regional functional connectivity in preterm infants into early childhood
Wayne Lee1, Benjamin R Morgan, Manohar M Shroff
1Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. wayne.lee@sickkids.ca
Insights
Very preterm birth shows minimal impact on resting state network development by age four. Brain connectivity in preterm infants closely resembles that of term-born infants, suggesting subtle developmental differences.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Pediatric Imaging
Background:
- Resting state networks (RSNs) are crucial for cognitive function.
- Altered RSNs in disease or developmental issues may predict cognitive deficits.
- Understanding very preterm birth's impact on RSN development is vital.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effect of very preterm birth on resting state functional connectivity development.
- To track RSN maturation from birth to four years of age in very preterm infants.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal resting state functional MRI (fMRI) data acquired from very preterm infants (n=36 at birth, n=30 at term, n=21 at 2 years, n=22 at 4 years).
- Seed-based connectivity analyses focused on anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, motor-hand, and temporal lobe regions.
- Examined local and inter-region connectivity changes across age and compared with term-born infants.
Main Results:
- Strong local connectivity observed in the preterm period.
- Maturation towards inter-hemispheric and default-mode network correlations by four years of age.
- Developmental trajectory of RSNs in very preterm infants is comparable to term-born infants.
Conclusions:
- Developmental trajectories of resting state connectivity show minimal differences between very preterm-born and term-born infants.
- Detecting subtle differences requires large sample sizes for both preterm and term populations.
Introduction:
Resting state networks are proposed to reflect the neuronal connectivity that underlies cognitive processes. Consequently, abnormal behaviour of these networks due to disease or altered development may predict poor cognitive outcome. To understand how very preterm birth may affect the development of resting state connectivity, we followed a cohort of very preterm-born infants from birth through to 4 years of age using resting state functional MRI.
Methods:
From a larger longitudinal cohort of infants born very preterm (<32 weeks gestational age), 36 at birth, 30 at term, 21 two-year and 22 four-year resting state fMRI datasets were acquired. Using seed-based connectivity analyses with seeds in the anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, left and right motor-hand regions and left and right temporal lobes, we investigated local and inter-region connectivity as a function of group and age.
Results:
We found strong local connectivity during the preterm period, which matured into inter-hemispheric and preliminary default-mode network correlations by 4 years of age. This development is comparable to the resting state networks found in term-born infants of equivalent age.
Conclusion:
The results of this study suggest that differences in developmental trajectory between preterm-born and term-born infants are small and, if present, would require a large sample from both populations to be detected.
