Work

Spatiotemporal cerebral blood flow dynamics underlies emergence of the limbic-sensorimotor-association cortical gradient in human infancy

Year: 2024

Type: article

Study design: Observational Study

Abstract: Infant cerebral blood flow (CBF) delivers nutrients and oxygen to fulfill brain energy consumption requirements for the fastest period of postnatal brain development across lifespan. However, organizing principle of whole-brain CBF dynamics during infancy remains obscure. Leveraging a unique cohort of 100+ infants with high-resolution arterial spin labeled MRI, we found the emergence of the cortical hierarchy revealed by highest-resolution infant CBF maps available to date. Infant CBF across cortical regions increased in a biphasic pattern with initial rapid and sequentially slower rate, with break-point ages increasing along the limbic-sensorimotor-association cortical gradient. Increases in CBF in sensorimotor cortices were associated with enhanced language and motor skills, and frontoparietal association cortices for cognitive skills. The study discovered emergence of the hierarchical limbic-sensorimotor-association cortical gradient in infancy, and offers standardized reference of infant brain CBF and insight into the physiological basis of cortical specialization and real-world infant developmental functioning.

Source: Nature Communications

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-53354-7

Authors: Minhui Ouyang, John A. Detre, Jessica L. Hyland, Kay L. Sindabizera, Emily S. Kuschner, J. Christopher Edgar, Yun Peng, Hao Huang

Institutions: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Capital Medical University, Beijing Children’s Hospital

Language: English

Topic: Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications

Subfield: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $6,790

Funders: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Awards: G1092444091, G1102094506, G1248798625, G1423936567, G1512199907, Association of gene expression and brain connectivity in human cerebral cortex development and adulthood, G2414311703, Reliable prediction of high-risk infants of autism with cortical microstructural biomarker, Structural Development of Human Fetal Brain, G3262958641, G3699704739, Next-generation human connectome atlas across the timespan of brain development, G4659691268, G5602174019, Infant Atlas of Brain Perfusion, G6100615285, Academic Industrial Partnership on Advanced Perfusion MRI, G7500483452, G7530230961, G8022605654, G8212385662, G9000017021, G9000100070, G9000104762, G9000123149, G9000154661, G9000204326, Brain structure and function in infants, A longitudinal study of brain development in children with autism, The Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) at CHOP/Penn

OpenAlex ID: W4403445683

FWCI: 3.669

Cites: 79

Cited by: 16

Related to: 10