Functional connectivity of the sensorimotor area in naturally sleeping infants

TY - JOUR

T1 - Functional connectivity of the sensorimotor area in naturally sleeping infants

AU - Liu, Wen Ching

AU - Flax, Judy F.

AU - Guise, Kevin G.

AU - Sukul, Vishad

AU - Benasich, April A.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Ms. Susan Marken, Ms. Julie Byrne, Dr. Sarah Paterson and Ms. Elizabeth Murray for their assistance in developing the optimal scanning environment, facilitating data acquisition, and providing support to both parents and infants throughout the study. We would also like to thank Dr. Nino Badridze for helping to design the noise attenuation helmet and Mr. Timothy Ni and Mr. Joshua Liu for working on the data analysis. This project was supported by the Santa Fe Institute Consortium and by a grant to AAB from NICHD (RO1-HD29419) as well as a Rutgers University Board of Trustees Excellence in Research Award to AAB.

PY - 2008/8/5

Y1 - 2008/8/5

N2 - Patterns of cortical functional connectivity in normal infants were examined during natural sleep by observing the time course of very low frequency oscillations. Such oscillations represent fluctuations in blood oxygenation level and cortical blood flow thus allowing computation of neurophysiologic connectivity. Structural and resting-state information were acquired for 11 infants, with a mean age of 12.8 months, using a GE 1.5 T MR scanner. Resting-state data were processed and significant functional connectivity within the sensorimotor area was identified using independent component analysis. Unilateral functional connectivity in the developing sensory-motor cortices was observed. Power spectral analysis showed that slow frequency oscillations dominated the hemodynamic signal at this age, with, on average, a peak frequency for all subjects of 0.02 Hz. Our data suggest that there is more intrahemispheric than interhemispheric connectivity in the sensorimotor area of naturally sleeping infants. This non-invasive imaging technique, developed to allow reliable scanning of normal infants without sedation, enabled computation of neurophysiologic connectivity for the first time in naturally sleeping infants. Such techniques permit elucidation of the role of slow cortical oscillations during early brain development and may reveal critical information regarding the normative development and lateralization of brain networks across time.

AB - Patterns of cortical functional connectivity in normal infants were examined during natural sleep by observing the time course of very low frequency oscillations. Such oscillations represent fluctuations in blood oxygenation level and cortical blood flow thus allowing computation of neurophysiologic connectivity. Structural and resting-state information were acquired for 11 infants, with a mean age of 12.8 months, using a GE 1.5 T MR scanner. Resting-state data were processed and significant functional connectivity within the sensorimotor area was identified using independent component analysis. Unilateral functional connectivity in the developing sensory-motor cortices was observed. Power spectral analysis showed that slow frequency oscillations dominated the hemodynamic signal at this age, with, on average, a peak frequency for all subjects of 0.02 Hz. Our data suggest that there is more intrahemispheric than interhemispheric connectivity in the sensorimotor area of naturally sleeping infants. This non-invasive imaging technique, developed to allow reliable scanning of normal infants without sedation, enabled computation of neurophysiologic connectivity for the first time in naturally sleeping infants. Such techniques permit elucidation of the role of slow cortical oscillations during early brain development and may reveal critical information regarding the normative development and lateralization of brain networks across time.

KW - Functional connectivity

KW - Infant

KW - Sleep

KW - fMRI

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U2 - 10.1016/j.brainres.2008.05.054

DO - 10.1016/j.brainres.2008.05.054

M3 - Article

C2 - 18599026

SN - 0006-8993

VL - 1223

SP - 42

EP - 49

JO - Brain research

JF - Brain research

ER -