Auditory structural connectivity in preterm and healthy term infants during the first postnatal year

作者：Zubiaurre Elorza Leire^*; Linke Annika C; Herzmann Charlotte; Wild Conor J; Duffy Hester; Lee David S C; Han Victor K; Cusack Rhodri

来源：Developmental Psychobiology, 2018, 60(3): 256-264.

DOI：10.1002/dev.21610

• acoustic radiation
• auditory development
• brainstem-heschl's pathway
• first postnatal year
• tractography

Assessing language development in the first postnatal year is difficult, as receptive and expressive skills are rudimentary. Although outward manifestations of change are limited, the auditory language system is thought to undergo critical development at this age, as the foundations are laid for the rapid onset of spoken language in the second and third years. We recruited 11 infants, 7 healthy controls (gestational age=40.69 +/- 0.56; range from 40 to 41.43) and preterm babies (gestational age=28.04 +/- 0.95; range from 27.43 to 29.43) who underwent a Magnetic Resonance Imaging study during the first postnatal year (age at scan=194.18 +/- 97.98). We assessed white matter tracts using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging with probabilistic tractography. Fractional anisotropy was found to be largely mature even at one month, although there was a little further increase during the first postnatal year in both the acoustic radiation and the direct brainstem-Heschl's pathway.

• 出版日期2018-4