Brain network activity in preterm infants

Preterm infants show adult-like patterns of interindividual variability in brain network activity, a study finds. Currently, standard clinical tools to predict whether infants will later develop neurological problems are lacking. One potential approach is to develop imaging biomarkers based on functional connectivity, or correlated activity of brain regions in a network. Hesheng Liu, Sophia Stoecklein, and colleagues used MRI to assess neural activity in the brain’s cortex, the outer layer of brain tissue, in 50 preterm infants as well as 25 healthy adults. Both preterm infants and adults showed similar patterns of interindividual variability in functional connectivity. Across individuals, there was less variability in networks involved in sensory processing and movement, compared with networks involved in complex cognitive functions such as attention. Compared with preterm infants, adults showed greater interindividual variability in functional connectivity in networks involved in complex cognitive functions such as reasoning, language, decision-making, and memory. Additional analyses suggest that the age-related increase in interindividual variability in these regions may be partly rooted in cortical maturation and expansion–developmental processes affecting brain structure. According to the authors, the findings may inform the development of functional connectivity biomarkers for identifying preterm infants at risk of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Article #19-07892: “Variable functional connectivity architecture of the preterm human brain: Impact of developmental cortical expansion and maturation,” by Sophia Stoecklein et al.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Hesheng Liu, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC; e-mail:

[email protected]

; Sophia Stoecklein, Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich, GERMANY; e-mail:

[email protected]

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