Kelsey Christoffel, Josepheen De Asis-Cruz, Rathinaswamy B Govindan, Jung Hoon Kim, Kevin Michael Cook, Kushal Kapse, Nickie Andescavage, Sudeepta Basu, Emma Spoehr, Catherine Limperopoulos, Adre Du Plessis
INTRODUCTION: The Central Autonomic Network (CAN) is a hierarchy of brain structures that collectively influence cardiac autonomic input, mediating the majority of brain-heart interactions, but has never been studied in premature neonates. In this study, we use heart rate variability (HRV), which has been described as the "primary output" of the CAN, and resting state functional MRI to characterize brain-heart relationships in premature neonates. METHODS: We studied premature neonates who underwent resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI) at term, (37-weeks postmenstrual age [PMA] or above) and had HRV data recorded during the same week of their MRI...
February 6, 2024: Developmental Neuroscience