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Meredith Weiss S, Aydin E, Lloyd-Fox S, Johnson MH. Trajectories of brain and behaviour development in the womb, at birth and through infancy. Nat Hum Behav 2024:10.1038/s41562-024-01896-7. [PMID: 38886534 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01896-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024]
Abstract
Birth is often seen as the starting point for studying effects of the environment on human development, with much research focused on the capacities of young infants. However, recent imaging advances have revealed that the complex behaviours of the fetus and the uterine environment exert influence. Birth is now viewed as a punctuate event along a developmental pathway of increasing autonomy of the child from their mother. Here we highlight (1) increasing physiological autonomy and perceptual sensitivity in the fetus, (2) physiological and neurochemical processes associated with birth that influence future behaviour, (3) the recalibration of motor and sensory systems in the newborn to adapt to the world outside the womb and (4) the effect of the prenatal environment on later infant behaviours and brain function. Taken together, these lines of evidence move us beyond nature-nurture issues to a developmental human lifespan view beginning within the womb.
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Affiliation(s)
- Staci Meredith Weiss
- University of Cambridge, Department of Psychology, Cambridge, UK.
- University of Roehampton, School of Psychology, London, UK.
| | - Ezra Aydin
- University of Cambridge, Department of Psychology, Cambridge, UK
- Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Sarah Lloyd-Fox
- University of Cambridge, Department of Psychology, Cambridge, UK
| | - Mark H Johnson
- University of Cambridge, Department of Psychology, Cambridge, UK
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
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2
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Arichi T. Characterizing Large-Scale Human Circuit Development with In Vivo Neuroimaging. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 2024; 16:a041496. [PMID: 38438187 PMCID: PMC11146311 DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a041496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
Large-scale coordinated patterns of neural activity are crucial for the integration of information in the human brain and to enable complex and flexible human behavior across the life span. Through recent advances in noninvasive functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) methods, it is now possible to study this activity and how it emerges in the living fetal brain across the second half of human gestation. This work has demonstrated that functional activity in the fetal brain has several features in keeping with highly organized networks of activity, which are undergoing a highly programmed and rapid sequence of development before birth, in which long-range connections emerge and core features of the mature functional connectome (such as hub regions and a gradient organization) are established. In this review, the findings of these studies are summarized, their relationship to the known changes in developmental neurobiology is considered, and considerations for future work in the context of limitations to the fMRI approach are presented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomoki Arichi
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, St Thomas' Hospital, London SE1 7EH, United Kingdom
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King's College London, New Hunt's House, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
- Children's Neurosciences, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London SE1 7EH, United Kingdom
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Hendrix CL, Ji L, Werchan DM, Majbri A, Trentacosta CJ, Burt SA, Thomason ME. Fetal Frontolimbic Connectivity Prospectively Associates With Aggression in Toddlers. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY GLOBAL OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 3:969-978. [PMID: 37881555 PMCID: PMC10593887 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2022.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2022] [Revised: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 09/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Aggression is a major public health concern that emerges early in development and lacks optimized treatment, highlighting need for improved mechanistic understanding regarding the etiology of aggression. The present study leveraged fetal resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify candidate neurocircuitry for the onset of aggressive behaviors before symptom emergence. Methods Pregnant mothers were recruited during the third trimester of pregnancy to complete a fetal resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Mothers subsequently completed the Child Behavior Checklist to assess child aggression at 3 years postpartum (n = 79). Independent component analysis was used to define frontal and limbic regions of interest. Results Child aggression was not related to within-network connectivity of subcortical limbic regions or within-medial prefrontal network connectivity in fetuses. However, weaker functional coupling between the subcortical limbic network and medial prefrontal network in fetuses was prospectively associated with greater maternal-rated child aggression at 3 years of age even after controlling for maternal emotion dysregulation and toddler language ability. We observed similar, but weaker, associations between fetal frontolimbic functional connectivity and toddler internalizing symptoms. Conclusions Neural correlates of aggressive behavior may be detectable in utero, well before the onset of aggression symptoms. These preliminary results highlight frontolimbic connections as potential candidate neurocircuitry that should be further investigated in relation to the unfolding of child behavior and psychiatric risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cassandra L. Hendrix
- Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York
| | - Lanxin Ji
- Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York
| | - Denise M. Werchan
- Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York
- Department of Population Health, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York
| | - Amyn Majbri
- Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York
| | | | - S. Alexandra Burt
- Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, Lansing, Michigan
| | - Moriah E. Thomason
- Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York
- Department of Population Health, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York
- Neuroscience Institute, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York
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Karolis VR, Fitzgibbon SP, Cordero-Grande L, Farahibozorg SR, Price AN, Hughes EJ, Fetit AE, Kyriakopoulou V, Pietsch M, Rutherford MA, Rueckert D, Hajnal JV, Edwards AD, O'Muircheartaigh J, Duff EP, Arichi T. Maturational networks of human fetal brain activity reveal emerging connectivity patterns prior to ex-utero exposure. Commun Biol 2023; 6:661. [PMID: 37349403 PMCID: PMC10287667 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-04969-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2022] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023] Open
Abstract
A key feature of the fetal period is the rapid emergence of organised patterns of spontaneous brain activity. However, characterising this process in utero using functional MRI is inherently challenging and requires analytical methods which can capture the constituent developmental transformations. Here, we introduce a novel analytical framework, termed "maturational networks" (matnets), that achieves this by modelling functional networks as an emerging property of the developing brain. Compared to standard network analysis methods that assume consistent patterns of connectivity across development, our method incorporates age-related changes in connectivity directly into network estimation. We test its performance in a large neonatal sample, finding that the matnets approach characterises adult-like features of functional network architecture with a greater specificity than a standard group-ICA approach; for example, our approach is able to identify a nearly complete default mode network. In the in-utero brain, matnets enables us to reveal the richness of emerging functional connections and the hierarchy of their maturational relationships with remarkable anatomical specificity. We show that the associative areas play a central role within prenatal functional architecture, therefore indicating that functional connections of high-level associative areas start emerging prior to exposure to the extra-utero environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vyacheslav R Karolis
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK.
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Sean P Fitzgibbon
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Lucilio Cordero-Grande
- Biomedical Image Technologies, ETSI Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid & CIBER-BBN, Madrid, Spain
| | - Seyedeh-Rezvan Farahibozorg
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Anthony N Price
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Emer J Hughes
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Ahmed E Fetit
- Biomedical Image Analysis Group, Department of Computing, Imperial College London, London, UK
- UKRI CDT in Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare, Department of Computing, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Vanessa Kyriakopoulou
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Maximilian Pietsch
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Mary A Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Daniel Rueckert
- Biomedical Image Analysis Group, Department of Computing, Imperial College London, London, UK
- Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Joseph V Hajnal
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - A David Edwards
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Jonathan O'Muircheartaigh
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King's College London, London, UK
- Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Eugene P Duff
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Tomoki Arichi
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King's College London, London, UK
- Paediatric Neurosciences, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
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Ji L, Majbri A, Hendrix CL, Thomason ME. Fetal behavior during MRI changes with age and relates to network dynamics. Hum Brain Mapp 2023; 44:1683-1694. [PMID: 36564934 PMCID: PMC9921243 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2022] [Revised: 10/31/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Fetal motor behavior is an important clinical indicator of healthy development. However, our understanding of associations between fetal behavior and fetal brain development is limited. To fill this gap, this study introduced an approach to automatically and objectively classify long durations of fetal movement from a continuous four-dimensional functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data set, and paired behavior features with brain activity indicated by the fMRI time series. Twelve-minute fMRI scans were conducted in 120 normal fetuses. Postnatal motor function was evaluated at 7 and 36 months age. Fetal motor behavior was quantified by calculating the frame-wise displacement (FD) of fetal brains extracted by a deep-learning model along the whole time series. Analyzing only low motion data, we characterized the recurring coactivation patterns (CAPs) of the supplementary motor area (SMA). Results showed reduced motor activity with advancing gestational age (GA), likely due in part to loss of space (r = -.51, p < .001). Evaluation of individual variation in motor movement revealed a negative association between movement and the occurrence of coactivations within the left parietotemporal network, controlling for age and sex (p = .003). Further, we found that the occurrence of coactivations between the SMA to posterior brain regions, including visual cortex, was prospectively associated with postnatal motor function at 7 months (r = .43, p = .03). This is the first study to pair fetal movement and fMRI, highlighting potential for comparisons of fetal behavior and neural network development to enhance our understanding of fetal brain organization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lanxin Ji
- Department of Child & Adolescent PsychiatryNew York University School of MedicineNew YorkNew YorkUSA
| | - Amyn Majbri
- Department of Child & Adolescent PsychiatryNew York University School of MedicineNew YorkNew YorkUSA
| | - Cassandra L. Hendrix
- Department of Child & Adolescent PsychiatryNew York University School of MedicineNew YorkNew YorkUSA
| | - Moriah E. Thomason
- Department of Child & Adolescent PsychiatryNew York University School of MedicineNew YorkNew YorkUSA
- Department of Population HealthNew York University School of MedicineNew YorkNew YorkUSA
- Neuroscience InstituteNew York University School of MedicineNew YorkNew YorkUSA
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Hendrix CL, Srinivasan H, Feliciano I, Carré JM, Thomason ME. Fetal Hippocampal Connectivity Shows Dissociable Associations with Maternal Cortisol and Self-Reported Distress during Pregnancy. Life (Basel) 2022; 12:943. [PMID: 35888033 PMCID: PMC9316091 DOI: 10.3390/life12070943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2022] [Revised: 06/17/2022] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Maternal stress can shape long-term child neurodevelopment beginning in utero. One mechanism by which stress is transmitted from mothers to their offspring is via alterations in maternal cortisol, which can cross the placenta and bind to glucocorticoid receptor-rich regions in the fetal brain, such as the hippocampus. Although prior studies have demonstrated associations between maternal prenatal stress and cortisol levels with child brain development, we lack information about the extent to which these associations originate prior to birth and prior to confounding postnatal influences. Pregnant mothers (n = 77) completed questionnaires about current perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms, provided three to four salivary cortisol samples, and completed a fetal resting-state functional MRI scan during their second or third trimester of pregnancy (mean gestational age = 32.8 weeks). Voxelwise seed-based connectivity analyses revealed that higher prenatal self-reported distress and higher maternal cortisol levels corresponded to dissociable differences in fetal hippocampal functional connectivity. Specifically, self-reported distress was correlated with increased positive functional coupling between the hippocampus and right posterior parietal association cortex, while higher maternal cortisol was associated with stronger positive hippocampal coupling with the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and left medial prefrontal cortex. Moreover, the association between maternal distress, but not maternal cortisol, on fetal hippocampal connectivity was moderated by fetal sex. These results suggest that prenatal stress and peripheral cortisol levels may shape fetal hippocampal development through unique mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cassandra L. Hendrix
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA; (H.S.); (I.F.); (M.E.T.)
| | - Harini Srinivasan
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA; (H.S.); (I.F.); (M.E.T.)
| | - Integra Feliciano
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA; (H.S.); (I.F.); (M.E.T.)
| | - Justin M. Carré
- Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, North Bay, ON P1B 8L7, Canada;
| | - Moriah E. Thomason
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA; (H.S.); (I.F.); (M.E.T.)
- Department of Population Health, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA
- Neuroscience Institute, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA
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