Summary: Babies and infants ‘ brain imaging shows a rapid increase in usable brain connectivity at birth, facilitating affluence with the outside world. Researchers observed different development patterns, with subcortical, sensorimotor, and outstanding front regions undergoing main reorganizations.
These findings emphasize the sensitivity of individual mental networks to environmental factors and their role in early growth. The research lays the groundwork for exploring how antenatal suffering, immaturity, or gender differences form brain development. Understanding these procedures allows for understanding the formation of neural systems and first mental agility.
Important Information:
- Birth triggers serious restructuring in subcortical, sensorimotor, and exceptional front brain networks.
- Practical communication shifts are region-specific, with some places showing little progress while others experience major increases.
- Subcortical networks serve as the brain’s main hub for neurological information relay, increasing communication efficiency.
Origin: PLOS
According to a study led by Lanxin Ji and Moriah Thomason from the New York University School of Medicine, USA, brain-imaging data from fetuses and infants has revealed a rapid rise in efficient communication between brain regions on a global level at beginning. This may reflect neural processes that support the body’s ability to adapt to the outside world.
It is crucial to understand the stages of head practical network development at the beginning of a human life. There are still many questions about how the baby transitional neural systems emerge and develop.
To reconstruct the developmental pathways of brain functional networks that span 25 to 55 weeks post-conceptual gestational age, Thomason and colleagues used a sizable dataset from functional magnetic resonance imaging to study these processes. The final sample included 126 fetal scans and 58 infant scans from 140 subjects.
The researchers found that the brain’s distinct growth patterns vary depending on the region they were in. This suggests that the neural changes that accompany the birth transition vary. Resting-state functional connectivity ( RSFC) changes in some areas were minimal when no specific task was being performed, indicating correlations between brain regions ‘ blood oxygen level-dependent signals.
However, RSFC in other areas significantly changed when it was first born. In this developmental stage, the subcortical network, sensorimotor network, and superior frontal network stand out as regions that undergo rapid reorganization.
The subcortical network was the only area with a significant increase in communication efficiency within neighboring nodes, according to additional analysis. The subcortical network serves as the cortex’s central hub, facilitating communication between cortical regions and relaying nearly all incoming and outgoing information to and from.
Throughout the fetal to neonatal period, there was a gradual increase in global efficiency in sensorimotor and parietal-frontal regions, which could have been a result of connections being established or strengthened as well as redundant connections being eliminated.
This study, in their opinion, provides the foundation for future research on the impact of environmental factors on early brain development.
In particular, further studies could reveal how factors such as sex, prematurity, and prenatal adversity interact with the timing and growth patterns of children’s brain network development.
The authors add that” for the first time, this study examines the significant evolution of brain functional networks during the birth transition.
We find that regional growth patterns are present in regions with little to no change in the functional connectome while others show a significant increase at birth.
About this information on research into neurodevelopment
Author: Claire Turner
Source: PLOS
Contact: Claire Turner – PLOS
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
By Lanxin Ji and al.,” How does the human brain’s functional connectome develop from birth to age?.” PLOS Biology
Abstract
How does the human brain’s functional connectome develop from birth to age?
From both a normative and clinical standpoints, understanding the sequence and timing of brain functional network development at the beginning of a human life is crucial. However, the longitudinal development of human brain functional networks during the birth transition is still unreliable.
This study uses developmental trajectories of brain functional networks that span 25 to 55 weeks post-conceptual gestational age ( GA ) using a sizable, longitudinal perinatal functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fMRI ) data set.
The final sample includes 126 fetal scans ( GA = 31.36 ± 3.83 weeks ) and 58 infant scans ( GA = 48.17 ± 3.73 weeks ) from 140 unique subjects. In this study, we document the developmental changes of resting-state functional connectivity ( RSFC) over the birth transition, evident at both network and graph levels.
We find that regional growth patterns vary, with some regions showing little RSFC variation, while others show a dramatic increase at birth.
Examples of dramatic changes caused by birth include RSFC in the bilateral sensorimotor networks, RSFC in the superior frontal network, RSFC in the occipital-cerebellum joint network, and RSFC in the cross-hemisphere between the bilateral temporal network.
The subcortical network is the only area of the brain with a significant increase in local efficiency around birth, according to our graph analysis, while a concomitant gradual increase was found in global efficiency in both the fetal and neonatal regions.
This research provides the foundation for future research on the impact of environmental factors on early brain development by tracing the fundamental components of this process.
