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Annual Research Review: Not just a small adult brain: understanding later neurodevelopment through imaging the
Dafnis Batalle1, A David Edwards1, Jonathan O'Muircheartaigh1,2
1Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Imaging Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK.
Insights
Neuroimaging research tracks early brain development to predict childhood neurodevelopmental disorders. While challenges remain, this field is crucial for understanding later outcomes in children.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Recent surge in neuroimaging studies of prenatal, neonatal, and early childhood brain development.
- Early brain injury and preterm birth are linked to higher risks of neurodevelopmental disorders.
- Highlights the critical importance of early brain development for long-term outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review structural and functional neuroimaging studies of the developing brain.
- To identify common aims in tracking normative development and deviations.
- To explore the prediction of childhood behavioral, cognitive, and neurological functions.
Main Methods:
- Review of diverse structural and functional neuroimaging studies.
- Focus on methodologies applicable to early age ranges.
- Analysis of challenges in acquiring and modeling neonatal data.
Main Results:
- Neuroimaging markers currently show limited predictive power for later outcomes.
- Specificity of markers to individual neurodevelopmental disorders remains uncertain.
- Acknowledges the field's youth and ongoing efforts to overcome data acquisition and modeling challenges.
Conclusions:
- Despite current limitations, neuroimaging is a valuable tool for studying early brain development.
- Continued research is essential to improve predictive capabilities and understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders.
- Addressing technical complexities is key to advancing the field and its clinical applications.
Background:
There has been a recent proliferation in neuroimaging research focusing on brain development in the prenatal, neonatal and very early childhood brain. Early brain injury and preterm birth are associated with increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, indicating the importance of this early period for later outcome.
Scope And Methodology:
Although using a wide range of different methodologies and investigating diverse samples, the common aim of many of these studies has been to both track normative development and investigate deviations in this development to predict behavioural, cognitive and neurological function in childhood. Here we review structural and functional neuroimaging studies investigating the developing brain. We focus on practical and technical complexities of studying this early age range and discuss how neuroimaging techniques have been successfully applied to investigate later neurodevelopmental outcome.
Conclusions:
Neuroimaging markers of later outcome still have surprisingly low predictive power and their specificity to individual neurodevelopmental disorders is still under question. However, the field is still young, and substantial challenges to both acquiring and modeling neonatal data are being met.
