Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Vasung, Lana
• Abaci Turk, Esra
• Ferradal, Silvina L.
• Sutin, Jason
• Stout, Jeffrey N.
• Ahtam, Banu
• Lin, Pei-Yi
• Grant, P. Ellen

Titel

Exploring early human brain development with structural and physiological neuroimaging

Ist Teil von

• NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.), 2019-02, Vol.187, p.226-254

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Early brain development, from the embryonic period to infancy, is characterized by rapid structural and functional changes. These changes can be studied using structural and physiological neuroimaging methods. In order to optimally acquire and accurately interpret this data, concepts from adult neuroimaging cannot be directly transferred. Instead, one must have a basic understanding of fetal and neonatal structural and physiological brain development, and the important modulators of this process. Here, we first review the major developmental milestones of transient cerebral structures and structural connectivity (axonal connectivity) followed by a summary of the contributions from ex vivo and in vivo MRI. Next, we discuss the basic biology of neuronal circuitry development (synaptic connectivity, i.e. ensemble of direct chemical and electrical connections between neurons), physiology of neurovascular coupling, baseline metabolic needs of the fetus and the infant, and functional connectivity (defined as statistical dependence of low-frequency spontaneous fluctuations seen with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)). The complementary roles of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) are discussed. We include a section on modulators of brain development where we focus on the placenta and emerging placental MRI approaches. In each section we discuss key technical limitations of the imaging modalities and some of the limitations arising due to the biology of the system. Although neuroimaging approaches have contributed significantly to our understanding of early brain development, there is much yet to be done and a dire need for technical innovations and scientific discoveries to realize the future potential of early fetal and infant interventions to avert long term disease. Studying brain structure (in green), brain function (in yellow), and modulators of brain development (placenta in purple, environment in red), using neuroimaging methods, in order to characterize normal and abnormal brain development. [Display omitted] •The structure, vascular physiology and neural activity of the developing brain change rapidly and are different than adults.•Neurovascular coupling is immature and evolving during early brain development.•External modulators, such as the placenta play a critical role in brain development.•Current imaging methods provide volume averages of complex microscopic processes.•Technical advances to improve structural and physiological assessments of brain during early development are needed.