Babies born prematurely show the same kind of brain activation seen in adults: but it's a lot slower. That's according to an interesting study using fMRI scanning.
The authors, Tomoki Arichi and colleagues of London, measured brain activation in response to mild sensory stimulation (touching the right hand) in three groups: adults, "preterm" infants who were just 38 weeks old since conception, and "term" infants who'd been conceived about 42 weeks before scanning, although many of these had also been born prematurely.
The authors say that the brain itself is probably not the source of the difference. Rather, they argue that in preterm infants, the blood supply to the brain takes longer to respond to the need for more oxygen.
Arichi T, Fagiolo G, Varela M, Melendez-Calderon A, Allievi A, Merchant N, Tusor N, Counsell SJ, Burdet E, Beckmann CF, and Edwards AD (2012). Development of BOLD signal Hemodynamic Responses in the Human Brain. NeuroImage PMID: 22776460
5 comments:
If we accept the scan images at face value it also looks like the preterm images lacked bilateral activation. Does lack of hemispheric integration stem from incomplete transcallosal pathways or perhaps more spinal level pathways?
I find their conclusion, given ofcourse that the event happens, immensely logical.
Something has to tell the vessels to widen, if that something is subdeveloped it stands to reason it responds slower.
Although i am of the opinion that pre-term infants being kept alive should be severely restricted due to the by now known health/metal risks this brings.
I would not be surprised to find that the difference is entirely due to subject motion differences between the groups.
It’s easy to see why premature babies are slower when it comes to responding to something that babies that are born on time. When babies are born early they are in a critical condition in which they need a lot of help to survive, this shows that they won’t be able to do anything by them self or even something faster than the babies born with everything set and ready to go. But I’m pretty sure that after the premature baby has recovered well than they will be in the same, no difference between them and the other born on time babies. Their physical development will improve; their social and personality will develop normal. Babies are always different and sometimes even the ones that are born on time could end up being shower that the premature babies.
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