Investigation of brain cortical development in moderate-late preterm infants
Refereed conference paper presented and published in conference proceedings


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AbstractPreterm birth is among the risk factors for children’s developmental delay and language impairment. The majority of preterm babies (up to 84%) are moderate to late preterm (MLPT) infants, and relatively less attention has been paid to their potential neurodevelopmental issues. One recent study have reported abnormal total CSF volume in MLPT infants. Another study showed that rain volumes were associated with cognitive and language development in MLPT children at 2 years of age. However, it is not clear whether MLPT infants show differences in cortical measures. Cortical measures have been shown to relate to later behavioral outcomes in full term infants.

A total of 31 newborn infants were included in the study: 17 MLPT (32-36 weeks’ gestational age (GA)) vs 14 term babies (>37 weeks’ GA) with an age range of 6-89 days (corrected chronological age) at MRI scan. Age and sex between the two groups were matched (MLPT: 47.5 days, 9 girls; control: 52.3 days, 8 girls). MRI data were acquired during natural sleep. An MRI-compatible incubator was used for individuals with weight < 5KG. T1-weighted structural images were acquired to extract neural cortical features, with spatial resolution=0.8x0.8x0.8 mm3, TR=1.8s, TE=2.82ms, flip angle=8o. The raw data was sent to infantFS, a FreeSurfer based pipeline that provides infants templates for template-guided segmentation. The major processing steps include: intensity uniformization, skull stripping, spatial normalization, tissue segmentation, surface reconstruction of the outer and inner surfaces of the cortex, calculating cortical thickness and surface area. Whole brain vertex-based statistical analysis was conducted using a general linear model: imaging measures=age+Group (MLPT and control). The effect of Group was examined on cortical thickness and surface area.

Compared with controls, decreased cortical thickness in right fusiform gyrus and right primary occipital cortex were found in the MLPT group. Increased cortical thickness in right supramarginal gyrus, and enlarged surface area in left precentral gyrus were also observed in the MLPT group. The cluster of decreased cortical thickness in right primary occipital cortex, and that of increased surface area in left precentral gyrus remained significant after multiple comparison correction. These findings suggest that moderate to late preterm birth may affect the development of primary visual and sensori-motor cortices as early as perinatal period of life. These abnormal sensory processing areas may later affect higher-order cognitive processing, which may eventually contribute to neurodevelopmental problems later in life.
Acceptance Date26/08/2021
All Author(s) ListGeng X., Chan P.H., Lai C., Chu W.C.W., Lam H.S., Wong P.C.M
Name of ConferenceSociety for Neuroscience 50th Annual Meeting
Start Date of Conference08/11/2021
End Date of Conference11/11/2021
Place of ConferenceChicago
Country/Region of ConferenceUnited States of America
Year2021
Month11
LanguagesEnglish-United States

Last updated on 2022-10-10 at 16:14