Brain functional network connectivity development in very preterm infants: The first six months.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Pediatrics
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Very preterm birth (≤32 weeks gestational age) affects nearly 10% of US infants.
• Cognitive and behavioral deficits impact up to 35% of very preterm survivors.
• Early diagnosis of these deficits is challenging, often requiring childhood assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate brain functional network development in very preterm infants using resting-state fMRI.
• To assess changes in functional connectivity from early infancy to later postmenstrual age.
• To explore the potential of resting-state fMRI for early prognostication of neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Enrolled a cohort of very preterm infants shortly after birth.
• Acquired resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data at 32, 39, and 52 weeks postmenstrual age.
• Utilized group probabilistic independent component analysis to identify resting-state networks (visual, auditory, motor, somatosensory, cerebellum, brainstem, subcortical gray matter, default mode, executive control, frontoparietal).

Main Results:

• Identified 10 distinct resting-state brain networks.
• Observed significant increases in functional connectivity strength over time (32 to 52 weeks postmenstrual age).
• Specific networks showing increased connectivity include auditory, somatosensory, visual, subcortical gray matter, executive control, and frontoparietal.

Conclusions:

• Resting-state fMRI reveals dynamic development of brain functional networks in very preterm infants.
• Increasing functional connectivity suggests ongoing maturation of neural circuits.
• Further research with neurodevelopmental follow-up is necessary to validate these findings as prognostic biomarkers for long-term cognitive and behavioral deficits.