A rapid brain metabolic change in infants detected by fMRI.
To determine developmental changes of activity-related metabolism in human visual cortex, we performed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) from the neonatal period. A rapid metabolic changing pattern accompanying normal human brain maturation was revealed by fMRI with photic stimulation. Infants older than 8 weeks of age showed a stimulus-related signal decrease in the visual cortex, whereas younger neonates showed a signal increase. This inversion of response in infants suggests a change in oxygen consumption during neuronal activation, which is related to rapid synapse formation and accompanying increased metabolism. fMRI can detect dynamic metabolic changes during the brain maturation, and provides a new clue in the detection of abnormal brain development or CNS plasticity.
Yamada
H
H
Department of Radiology, Fukui Medical School, Japan.
Sadato
N
N
Konishi
Y
Y
Kimura
K
K
Tanaka
M
M
Yonekura
Y
Y
Ishii
Y
Y
D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000378:metabolism*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male