Spatiotemporal brain dynamics in 8-to-9-year-old children: A comparative study between preterm and term...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

• Preterm birth significantly impacts brain development, increasing risks for long-term cognitive and functional deficits.
• Understanding the effects of very preterm birth on brain network organization is crucial for identifying potential interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of very preterm birth on the spatial and temporal organization of functional brain networks in school-aged children.
• To characterize structure-function coupling in dynamic brain activity using a spatiotemporal connectome framework.

Main Methods:

• Utilized multimodal MRI (diffusion-weighted imaging, resting-state fMRI) in 25 very preterm children (born <30 weeks GA) and 25 full-term controls (8-9 years).
• Analyzed Connected Components (CCs) to quantify CC number, height, and width, reflecting co-activation patterns, spatial extent, and temporal span.
• Assessed System Diversity (SD) and Spatiotemporal Diversity (STD) to measure network integrative richness and temporal variability.

Main Results:

• CC number decreased with age, consistent with typical development.
• Preterm children exhibited significantly greater CC height, positively associated with processing speed, suggesting altered network co-activation.
• Significantly lower Spatiotemporal Diversity (STD) was observed across all functional networks in the preterm group, indicating reduced temporal flexibility.

Conclusions:

• Very preterm birth selectively alters the dynamic engagement of functional brain systems.
• Findings suggest heightened temporal stability and reduced functional flexibility in the brains of children born very preterm.
• These alterations in dynamic network organization may underlie cognitive vulnerabilities observed in this population.