Normative spatiotemporal fetal brain maturation with satisfactory development at 2 years

Ana I. L. Namburete (), Bartłomiej W. Papież, Michelle Fernandes, Madeleine K. Wyburd, Linde S. Hesse, Felipe A. Moser, Leila Cheikh Ismail, Robert B. Gunier, Waney Squier, Eric O. Ohuma, Maria Carvalho, Yasmin Jaffer, Michael Gravett, Qingqing Wu, Ann Lambert, Adele Winsey, María C. Restrepo-Méndez, Enrico Bertino, Manorama Purwar, Fernando C. Barros, Alan Stein, J. Alison Noble, Zoltán Molnár, Mark Jenkinson, Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Aris T. Papageorghiou, José Villar and Stephen H. Kennedy
Additional contact information
Ana I. L. Namburete: University of Oxford
Bartłomiej W. Papież: University of Oxford
Michelle Fernandes: University of Oxford
Madeleine K. Wyburd: University of Oxford
Linde S. Hesse: University of Oxford
Felipe A. Moser: University of Oxford
Leila Cheikh Ismail: University of Sharjah
Robert B. Gunier: University of California
Waney Squier: John Radcliffe Hospital
Eric O. Ohuma: University of Oxford
Maria Carvalho: Aga Khan University Hospital
Yasmin Jaffer: Ministry of Health
Michael Gravett: University of Washington
Qingqing Wu: Peking University
Ann Lambert: University of Oxford
Adele Winsey: University of Oxford
María C. Restrepo-Méndez: University of Oxford
Enrico Bertino: Universita di Torino
Manorama Purwar: Nagpur INTERGROWTH-21st Research Centre, Ketkar Hospital
Fernando C. Barros: Universidade Católica de Pelotas
Alan Stein: University of Oxford
J. Alison Noble: University of Oxford
Zoltán Molnár: University of Oxford
Mark Jenkinson: University of Oxford
Zulfiqar A. Bhutta: Hospital for Sick Children
Aris T. Papageorghiou: University of Oxford
José Villar: University of Oxford
Stephen H. Kennedy: University of Oxford

Nature, 2023, vol. 623, issue 7985, 106-114

Abstract: Abstract Maturation of the human fetal brain should follow precisely scheduled structural growth and folding of the cerebral cortex for optimal postnatal function1. We present a normative digital atlas of fetal brain maturation based on a prospective international cohort of healthy pregnant women2, selected using World Health Organization recommendations for growth standards3. Their fetuses were accurately dated in the first trimester, with satisfactory growth and neurodevelopment from early pregnancy to 2 years of age4,5. The atlas was produced using 1,059 optimal quality, three-dimensional ultrasound brain volumes from 899 of the fetuses and an automated analysis pipeline6–8. The atlas corresponds structurally to published magnetic resonance images9, but with finer anatomical details in deep grey matter. The between-study site variability represented less than 8.0% of the total variance of all brain measures, supporting pooling data from the eight study sites to produce patterns of normative maturation. We have thereby generated an average representation of each cerebral hemisphere between 14 and 31 weeks’ gestation with quantification of intracranial volume variability and growth patterns. Emergent asymmetries were detectable from as early as 14 weeks, with peak asymmetries in regions associated with language development and functional lateralization between 20 and 26 weeks’ gestation. These patterns were validated in 1,487 three-dimensional brain volumes from 1,295 different fetuses in the same cohort. We provide a unique spatiotemporal benchmark of fetal brain maturation from a large cohort with normative postnatal growth and neurodevelopment.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06630-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:623:y:2023:i:7985:d:10.1038_s41586-023-06630-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06630-3

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().