Purpose

Brain functional connectivity (FC) changes and microstructural abnormalities are reported in infants born moderate and late preterm (MLPT). We evaluated the effect of low-grade (grades I, II) intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) in MLPT babies on brain structural connectivity (SC) and FC.

Methods

Babies born MLPT between January 2014 and May 2017 underwent brain ultrasound (US) at 72 h and 7 days after birth, and MRI at around term equivalent. The MRI protocol comprised T1- and T2-weighted sequences, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and resting-state functional MRI (fMRI). SC and FC were assessed using graph analysis.

Results

Of 350 MLPT neonates, 15 showed low-grade IVH on US at 72 h, for which brain MRI was available in 10. These 10 infants, with mean gestational age (GA) 34.0 ± 0.8 weeks, comprised the study group, and 10 MLPT infants of mean GA 33.9 ± 1.1 weeks, with no abnormalities on brain US and MRI, were control subjects. All study subjects presented modularity, small world topology, and rich club organization for both SC and FC. The patients with low-grade IVH had lower FC rich club coefficient and lower SC betweenness centrality in the left frontoparietal operculum, and lower SC rich club coefficient in the right superior orbitofrontal cortex than the control subjects.

Conclusions

Topological and functional properties of mature brain connectivity are present in MLPT infants. IVH in these infants was associated with structural and functional abnormalities in the left frontoparietal operculum and right orbitofrontal cortex, regions related to language and cognition.

中文翻译：

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轻度脑室内出血中晚期早产儿的结构和功能性脑连接

目的

据报道，中晚期早产儿 (MLPT) 的脑功能连接 (FC) 变化和微观结构异常。我们评估了 MLPT 婴儿中低度（I、II 级）脑室内出血 (IVH) 对大脑结构连接 (SC) 和 FC 的影响。

方法

2014 年 1 月至 2017 年 5 月期间出生的 MLPT 婴儿在出生后 72 小时和 7 天接受了脑部超声检查（美国），并在大约等效足月时接受了 MRI。MRI 协议包括 T1 和 T2 加权序列、扩散张量成像 (DTI) 和静息状态功能 MRI (fMRI)。SC 和 FC 使用图形分析进行评估。

结果

在 350 名 MLPT 新生儿中，15 名在 72 小时时在 US 上显示出低级别 IVH，其中 10 名可用脑部 MRI。这 10 名平均胎龄 (GA) 34.0 ± 0.8 周的婴儿组成研究组，10 名 MLPT平均 GA 33.9 ± 1.1 周、脑部 US 和 MRI 无异常的婴儿是对照受试者。所有研究对象都为 SC 和 FC 展示了模块化、小世界拓扑和丰富的俱乐部组织。与对照组相比，低级别IVH患者左侧额顶叶鳃盖的FC丰富俱乐部系数和SC介数中心性较低，右侧眶额上皮层的SC丰富俱乐部系数较低。

结论

MLPT 婴儿存在成熟大脑连接的拓扑和功能特性。这些婴儿的 IVH 与左额顶盖和右眶额皮质的结构和功能异常有关，这些区域与语言和认知有关。