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Updated: Jun 28, 2025
Non-invasive Optical Measurement of Cerebral Metabolism and Hemodynamics in Infants
Published on: March 14, 2013
Spatiotemporal cerebral blood flow dynamics underlies emergence of the limbic-sensorimotor-association cortical
Minhui Ouyang1,2, John A Detre2,3, Jessica L Hyland1
1Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3401 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States.
Insights
Infant cerebral blood flow (CBF) maps reveal a developing cortical hierarchy. CBF increases in specific brain regions correlate with emerging language, motor, and cognitive skills in infants.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Infant cerebral blood flow (CBF) is crucial for rapid brain development, but its whole-brain dynamics remain unclear.
- Understanding infant CBF patterns is essential for insights into brain maturation and functional development.
Approach:
- Utilized high-resolution arterial spin labeled magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in over 100 infants.
- Generated detailed infant cerebral blood flow maps to analyze cortical region dynamics.
Key Points:
- Discovered the emergence of a cortical hierarchy in infant CBF maps.
- Observed a biphasic pattern of CBF increase across cortical regions, with distinct rates and timing.
- Identified a gradient in CBF maturation along the limbic-sensorimotor-association cortical axis.
- Linked increased CBF in sensorimotor areas to language/motor skills and frontoparietal areas to cognitive skills.
Conclusions:
- The study reveals the hierarchical organization of infant brain development through CBF dynamics.
- Provides a standardized reference for infant brain CBF, aiding future research.
- Offers insights into the physiological basis of cortical specialization and infant developmental outcomes.
Abstract:
Infant cerebral blood flow (CBF) delivers nutrients and oxygen to fulfill brain energy consumption requirements for the fastest period of postnatal brain development across lifespan. However, organizing principle of whole-brain CBF dynamics during infancy remains obscure. Leveraging a unique cohort of 100+ infants with high-resolution arterial spin labeled MRI, we found the emergence of the cortical hierarchy revealed by highest-resolution infant CBF maps available to date. Infant CBF across cortical regions increased in a biphasic pattern with initial rapid and sequentially slower rate, with break-point ages increasing along the limbic-sensorimotor-association cortical gradient. Increases in CBF in sensorimotor cortices were associated with enhanced language and motor skills, and frontoparietal association cortices for cognitive skills. The study discovered emergence of the hierarchical limbic-sensorimotor-association cortical gradient in infancy, and offers standardized reference of infant brain CBF and insight into the physiological basis of cortical specialization and real-world infant developmental functioning.
