OBJECTIVE Family Nurture Intervention (FNI) facilitates mother/infant emotional connection, improves neurodevelopmental outcomes and increases electroencephalogram (EEG) power at term age. Here we explored whether delta brushes (DB), early EEG bursts that shape brain development, are altered by FNI and mediate later effects of FNI on EEG. METHODS We assessed DB characteristics in EEG data from a randomized controlled trial comparing infants with standard care (SC, n = 31) versus SC + FNI (n = 33) at ~35 and ~40 weeks GA. RESULTS Compared to SC infants, FNI infant DB amplitude increased more from ~35 to ~40 weeks, and FNI infants had longer duration DBs. DB parameters (rate, amplitude, brush frequency) at ~35 weeks were correlated with power at ~40 weeks, but only in SC infants. FNI effects on DB parameters do not mediate FNI effects on EEG power or coherence at term. CONCLUSIONS DBs are related to subsequent brain activity and FNI alters DB parameters. However, FNI's effects on electrocortical activity at term age are not dependent on its earlier effects on DBs. SIGNIFICANCE While early DBs can have important effects on later brain activity in preterm infants, facilitating emotional connection with FNI may allow brain maturation to be less dependent on early bursts.

中文翻译：

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家庭养育干预改变早产儿 EEG Delta 刷特征与足龄 EEG 功率之间的关系

目标家庭养育干预 (FNI) 促进母婴情感联系，改善神经发育结果并增加足月时的脑电图 (EEG) 功率。在这里，我们探讨了 delta 刷 (DB)，即影响大脑发育的早期 EEG 爆发，是否会被 FNI 改变并介导 FNI 对 EEG 的后期影响。方法我们评估了一项随机对照试验的 EEG 数据中的 DB 特征，该试验比较了标准护理（SC，n = 31）与 SC + FNI（n = 33）在 GA 约 35 周和约 40 周的婴儿。结果 与 SC 婴儿相比，FNI 婴儿 DB 幅度从~35 周增加到~40 周，并且 FNI 婴儿的 DB 持续时间更长。约 35 周时的 DB 参数（速率、振幅、刷牙频率）与约 40 周时的功率相关，但仅在 SC 婴儿中。FNI 对 DB 参数的影响不介导 FNI 对 EEG 功率或术语连贯性的影响。结论 DBs 与随后的大脑活动有关，FNI 改变 DB 参数。然而，FNI 对足月皮层电活动的影响并不依赖于它对 DB 的早期影响。意义 虽然早期 DBs 可以对早产儿后期的大脑活动产生重要影响，但促进与 FNI 的情感联系可能会使大脑成熟较少依赖早期爆发。