Spatiotemporal cerebral blood flow dynamics underlies emergence of the limbic-sensorimotor-association cortical gradient in human infancy

Minhui Ouyang, John A. Detre, Jessica L. Hyland, Kay L. Sindabizera, Emily S. Kuschner, J. Christopher Edgar, Yun Peng and Hao Huang ()
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Minhui Ouyang: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
John A. Detre: University of Pennsylvania
Jessica L. Hyland: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Kay L. Sindabizera: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Emily S. Kuschner: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
J. Christopher Edgar: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Yun Peng: Capital Medical University
Hao Huang: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Infant cerebral blood flow (CBF) delivers nutrients and oxygen to fulfill brain energy consumption requirements for the fastest period of postnatal brain development across the lifespan. However, organizing principle of whole-brain CBF dynamics during infancy remains obscure. Leveraging a unique cohort of 100+ infants with high-resolution arterial spin labeled MRI, we find the emergence of the cortical hierarchy revealed by the highest-resolution infant CBF maps available to date. Infant CBF across cortical regions increases in a biphasic pattern featured by initial rapid and subsequently slower rate, and break-point ages increasing along the limbic-sensorimotor-association cortical gradient. Increases in CBF in sensorimotor cortices are associated with enhanced language and motor skills, and frontoparietal association cortices with cognitive skills. The study discovers emergence of the hierarchical limbic-sensorimotor-association cortical gradient in infancy and offers standardized reference of infant brain CBF and insight into the physiological basis of cortical specialization and real-world infant developmental functioning.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-53354-7

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