Increasing evidence supports a link between maternal prenatal cannabis use and altered neural and physiological development of the child. However, whether cannabis use relates to altered human brain development prior to birth, and specifically, whether maternal prenatal cannabis use relates to connectivity of fetal functional brain systems, remains an open question. The major objective of this study was to identify whether maternal prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE) is associated with variation in human brain hippocampal functional connectivity prior to birth. Prenatal drug toxicology and fetal fMRI data were available in a sample of 115 fetuses [43 % female; mean age 32.2 weeks (SD = 4.3)]. Voxelwise hippocampal connectivity analysis in a subset of age and sex-matched fetuses revealed that PCE was associated with alterations in fetal dorsolateral, medial and superior frontal, insula, anterior temporal, and posterior cingulate connectivity. Classification of group differences by age 5 outcomes suggest that compared to the non-PCE group, the PCE group is more likely to have increased connectivity to regions associated with less favorable outcomes and to have decreased connectivity to regions associated with more favorable outcomes. This is preliminary evidence that altered fetal neural connectome may contribute to neurobehavioral vulnerability observed in children exposed to cannabis in utero.

越来越多的证据支持母亲产前使用大麻与儿童神经和生理发育改变之间的联系。然而，大麻的使用是否与出生前人类大脑发育的改变有关，特别是母亲产前大麻的使用是否与胎儿功能性大脑系统的连接有关，仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。这项研究的主要目的是确定母亲产前大麻暴露（PCE）是否与出生前人脑海马功能连接的变化有关。 115 个胎儿样本中提供了产前药物毒理学和胎儿 fMRI 数据 [43% 为女性；43% 为女性；平均年龄 32.2 周 ( SD = 4.3)]。对年龄和性别匹配的胎儿子集进行体素海马连接分析显示，PCE 与胎儿背外侧、内侧和上额叶、岛叶、前颞叶和后扣带回连接的改变相关。按 5 岁结果对组间差异进行分类表明，与非 PCE 组相比，PCE 组更有可能增加与不良结果相关区域的连通性，并降低与更有利结果相关区域的连通性。这是初步证据，表明胎儿神经连接组的改变可能导致在子宫内接触大麻的儿童中观察到的神经行为脆弱性。