Longitudinal neonatal brain development and socio-demographic correlates of infant outcomes following preterm birth

Vanes, Lucy; Fenn-Moltu, Sunniva; Hadaya, Laila; Fitzgibbon, Sean P.; Cordero‐Grande, Lucilio; Price, Anthony N.; Chew, Andrew; Falconer, Shona; Counsell, Serena J.; Hajnal, Joseph V.; Batalle, Dafnis; Edwards, A. David; Nosarti, Chiara

doi:10.1101/2022.08.11.22278469

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 91 publications

(104 reference statements)

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“…Nevertheless, in preterm born neonates at term equivalent age prematurity was associated with disrupted small-world architecture and reduced efficiency of regional communication in networks related with high-order cognition, including language. Adding to a growing literature (Fenn-Moltu et al, 2023;Vanes et al, 2023;Hu et al, 2022;Della et al, 2021;Eyre et al, 2021;Bouyssi-Kobar et al, 2019;Scheinost et al, 2016), our results shed light on disrupted brain mechanisms that may underlie the significant risks for neurodevelopmental and psychiatric problems in later life (Nosarti et al, 2012;Saigal et al, 2008;Marlow et al, 2005;Bhutta et al, 2002), that are associated with premature birth. These findings improve understanding of the ontogeny of functional small-world architecture and efficiency of neural communication across specific brain networks.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Typical and disrupted small-world architecture and regional communication in full-term and preterm infants

Coppola

Stamatakis

et al. 2023

Preprint

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One fundamental property of conscious experiences is that they are both differentiated and integrated. Adult functional brain networks exhibit an elegant "small-world" architecture. This optimal architecture enables efficient and cost-effective localized information processing and information integration between long-distance regions across the brain. It remains unclear whether the functional small-world architecture is developed in neonates at birth and how this development may be altered by premature birth. To address this gap, we investigated the development of small-world architecture in neonates. To understand the effect of early neonate age on small-world architecture, we also assessed neonates born prematurely or before term-equivalent age (TEA). We used the Developing Human Connectome Project (dHCP), a large neonatal functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) dataset with high temporal and spatial resolution. Resting state functional MRI data for full-term neonates (N = 278, age 41.2 weeks ± 12.2 days) and preterm neonates scanned at TEA (N = 72, 40.9 weeks ± 14.6 days), or before TEA (N = 70, 34.7 weeks ± 12.7 days), were obtained from the dHCP, and for a reference adult group (N = 176, 22 – 36 years), from the Human Connectome Project. Whole-brain functional network properties were evaluated with comprehensive spatial resolution using graph theoretical analyses. Although different from the adults', small-world architecture was developed in full-term born neonates at birth. Premature neonates before TEA showed dramatic underdevelopment of small-world architecture and regional communication in 9/11 brain networks, with disruption in 32% of nodes primarily distributed within the somatomotor, dorsal attention, cingulo-opercular, and frontoparietal control network. By TEA, premature neonates showed large-scale recuperation of regional communication, with 1.4% of nodes, distributed in the frontoparietal, salience, and visual networks remaining significantly underdeveloped. Our results suggest that, at full-term birth or by term-equivalent age, infants possess well-developed small-world architecture, which facilitates differentiated and integrated neural processes that give rise to conscious experiences. Conversely, they suggest that this brain infrastructure is significantly underdeveloped before infants reach term-equivalent age. These findings improve understanding of the ontogeny of functional small-world architecture and efficiency of neural communication across distinct brain networks in infants at birth.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Typical and disrupted small-world architecture and regional communication in full-term and preterm infants

Coppola

Stamatakis

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…There is a large body of work highlighting the relationship between SES and childhood outcome, particularly cognitive performance but also psychomotor function and psychopathology. [121][122][123][124][125][126][127] To date, few studies have assessed the relationship between brain structure and SES in the newborn period. In a small neonatal sample (n = 37), low maternal SES was associated with increased local volumes at the surface of the right occipital lobe, left temporal pole, left inferior frontal and anterior cingulate regions.…”

Section: Socioeconomic Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in fetal and neonatal neuroimaging and everyday exposures

Lautarescu,

Bonthrone,

Bos

et al. 2024

Pediatr Res

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The complex, tightly regulated process of prenatal brain development may be adversely affected by “everyday exposures” such as stress and environmental pollutants. Researchers are only just beginning to understand the neural sequelae of such exposures, with advances in fetal and neonatal neuroimaging elucidating structural, microstructural, and functional correlates in the developing brain. This narrative review discusses the wide-ranging literature investigating the influence of parental stress on fetal and neonatal brain development as well as emerging literature assessing the impact of exposure to environmental toxicants such as lead and air pollution. These ‘everyday exposures’ can co-occur with other stressors such as social and financial deprivation, and therefore we include a brief discussion of neuroimaging studies assessing the effect of social disadvantage. Increased exposure to prenatal stressors is associated with alterations in the brain structure, microstructure and function, with some evidence these associations are moderated by factors such as infant sex. However, most studies examine only single exposures and the literature on the relationship between in utero exposure to pollutants and fetal or neonatal brain development is sparse. Large cohort studies are required that include evaluation of multiple co-occurring exposures in order to fully characterize their impact on early brain development. Impact Increased prenatal exposure to parental stress and is associated with altered functional, macro and microstructural fetal and neonatal brain development. Exposure to air pollution and lead may also alter brain development in the fetal and neonatal period. Further research is needed to investigate the effect of multiple co-occurring exposures, including stress, environmental toxicants, and socioeconomic deprivation on early brain development.

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Structural covariance networks in the fetal brain reveal altered neurodevelopment for specific subtypes of congenital heart disease

Wilson,

Cromb,

Bonthrone

et al. 2024

Preprint

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BackgroundAltered structural brain development has been identified in fetuses with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), suggesting that the neurodevelopmental impairment observed later in life might originate in utero. There are many interacting factors that may perturb neurodevelopment during the fetal period and manifest as structural brain alterations, such as altered cerebral substrate delivery and aberrant fetal hemodynamics.MethodsWe extracted structural covariance networks (SCNs) from the log Jacobian determinants of 429 in utero T2w MRI scans, (n = 67 controls, 362 CHD) acquired during the third trimester. We fit general linear models to test whether age, sex, expected cerebral substrate delivery and CHD diagnosis were significant predictors of structural covariance.ResultsWe identified significant effects of age, sex, cerebral substrate delivery, and specific CHD diagnosis across a variety of SCNs, including primary motor and sensory cortices, cerebellar regions, frontal cortex, extra-axial CSF, thalamus, brainstem, and insula, consistent with widespread coordinated aberrant maturation of specific brain regions over the third trimester.ConclusionsSCNs offer a sensitive, data-driven approach to explore whole-brain structural changes without anatomical priors. We used them to stratify a heterogenous CHD patient cohort, highlighting similarities and differences between diagnoses during fetal neurodevelopment. Although there was a clear effect of abnormal fetal hemodynamics on structural brain maturation, our results suggest that this alone does not explain all the variation in brain development between individuals with CHD.

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Longitudinal neonatal brain development and socio-demographic correlates of infant outcomes following preterm birth

Cited by 3 publications

References 91 publications

Typical and disrupted small-world architecture and regional communication in full-term and preterm infants

Typical and disrupted small-world architecture and regional communication in full-term and preterm infants

Advances in fetal and neonatal neuroimaging and everyday exposures

Structural covariance networks in the fetal brain reveal altered neurodevelopment for specific subtypes of congenital heart disease

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