Journal
CEREBRAL CORTEX
Volume 25, Issue 9, Pages 3000-3013Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhu095
Keywords
connectome; development; functional connectivity; neonatal; structural connectivity
Categories
Funding
- Brain Center Rudolf Magnus
- VENI grant of the Dutch Council for Research [VENI: 451-12-001 NWO]
- Dutch Research Council (NWO)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The human connectome is the result of an elaborate developmental trajectory. Acquiring diffusion-weighted imaging and resting-state fMRI, we studied connectome formation during the preterm phase of macroscopic connectome genesis. In total, 27 neonates were scanned at week 30 and/or week 40 gestational age (GA). Examining the architecture of the neonatal anatomical brain network revealed a clear presence of a small-world modular organization before term birth. Analysis of neonatal functional connectivity (FC) showed the early formation of resting-state networks, suggesting that functional networks are present in the preterm brain, albeit being in an immature state. Moreover, structural and FC patterns of the neonatal brain network showed strong overlap with connectome architecture of the adult brain (85 and 81%, respectively). Analysis of brain development between week 30 and week 40 GA revealed clear developmental effects in neonatal connectome architecture, including a significant increase in white matter microstructure (P<0.01), smallworld topology (P<0.01) and interhemispheric FC (P<0.01). Computational analysis further showed that developmental changes involved an increase in integration capacity of the connectivity network as a whole. Taken together, we conclude that hallmark organizational structures of the human connectome are present before term birth and subject to early development.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available