Feature similarity gradients detect alterations in the neonatal cortex associated with preterm birth

Paola Galdi ^1,2, Manuel Blesa Cabez ¹, Christine Farrugia ^3,4

¹MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
²School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
³Faculty of Engineering, University of Malta, Valletta, Malta.
⁴University of Malta Magnetic Resonance Imaging Platform (UMRI), Valletta, Malta.
⁵Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, UK.
⁶School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Science, King's College London, London, UK.
⁷Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
⁸Royal Hospital for Children & Young People, Edinburgh, UK.
⁹School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
¹⁰Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
¹¹MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King's College London, London, UK.
¹²Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, Valletta, Malta.

⁰MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.

Human Brain Mapping +

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March 15, 2024

View abstract on PubMed

Summary

Preterm birth alters brain development, leading to widespread microstructural homogeneity in infant brains. This finding impacts understanding of early life environmental effects on cortical organization and long-term cognitive health.

Area Of Science

Neuroscience
Developmental Biology
Medical Imaging

Background

Early life environments significantly influence brain development and cognitive function throughout life.
Understanding the perinatal origins of cortical health is crucial but hindered by a lack of comprehensive measures for cortical organization.
Multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data integration for a detailed cortical microstructure analysis remains a challenge.

Purpose Of The Study

To develop and apply a novel measure, the Vogt-Bailey index, for fine-grained description of cortical microstructure.
To investigate the impact of preterm birth on cortical development at term-equivalent age.
To identify specific patterns of cortical alteration in preterm infants.

Main Methods

Utilized the Vogt-Bailey index, a novel measure analyzing feature gradients for regional cortical microstructure homogeneity and variations.
Employed multimodal MRI data from two independent infant datasets.
Compared cortical microstructure between preterm-born infants and term-born controls at term-equivalent age.

Main Results

Preterm infants exhibited a more homogeneous cortical microstructure compared to term-born controls.
This microstructural homogeneity was observed in specific regions including the temporal, occipital, medial parietal, cingulate, and frontal cortices.
Findings were consistent across two independent datasets and robust to data processing and quality control variations.

Conclusions

Cortical microstructural alterations in preterm infants are spatially distributed rather than localized.
The Vogt-Bailey index provides a valuable tool for assessing fine-grained cortical organization and its developmental trajectories.
These findings highlight the pervasive impact of preterm birth on early brain development.

Keywords:

MRI feature similarity gradients neonatal brain neonatal cortex preterm birth