Exploration of cortical structure and function in human infancy with advanced MRI methods

利用先进的 MRI 方法探索人类婴儿期皮质结构和功能

• 批准号: MR/Y009665/1
• 负责人: Tomoki Arichi
• 金额: $ 272.5万
• 依托单位: King's College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FY009665%2F1
• 关键词: Exploration; cortical; structure; function; human

Brain processing in the outermost layer of the brain, known as the cortex, is essential for everyday behaviour including how we interact with the world around us and other people. Abnormalities in the shape and composition of the cortex and its activity, are found in many illnesses including epilepsy, learning difficulties, and mental health disorders. These abnormalities likely arise at the start of our lives, when the cortex is rapidly developing and thus very senstive to diseases or injuries, especially those which compromise its supply of oxygen during development. However, current methods like ultrasound or standard MRI scans used in hospitals cannot provide enough detail to identify how these cortical abnormalities arise or their exact relationship to disease processes. The goal of this research is therefore to use the latest advances in MRI scanning to learn how abnormal cortical development can arise in early human life and how this can lead to difficulties with behaviour and learning in later childhood. This will be achieved by studying 90 babies from birth up to 2 and half years of age. 60 of these babies are known to be at high risk for having altered development of their cortex throughout their lives, most likely to a lack of oxygen delivered to the cortex during the crucial time leading up to the normal time of birth (through being born prematurely or having a genetic heart disease). 30 will be healthy babies born at full term who should have normal development. By studying these 3 groups, we will not only gain new information about how the cortex normally forms and is affected by diseases, but also potentially identify new targets for treatments.The recruited babies will be studied soon after birth using an ultra-high field (7 Tesla) MRI scanner, which provides far more detailed images than standard MRI scanners including extra information about the developing cortex's shape, blood supply, oxygen levels, and chemical levels. This complex information will then be related to the cortex's activity which is rapidly changing and maturing in the time around birth. Crucially, these will be the first images acquired from babies using this type of scanner in the UK and so will represent entirely new knowledge.As toddlers, children develop new behaviours which allow them to understand the world around them including interact with other people. How the brain changes to allow this is happen is not known, partly because it is extremely challenging to study children at this age, especially inside an MRI scanner. To overcome this, we have developed a new virtual reality (VR) system that provides a fun and immersive experience for a child whilst having a MRI scan, and so for the first time, can allow detailed pictures of the brain to be acquired from a child whilst they are awake and playing in the VR environment. This will allow us to compare how the cortex as a baby is related to its structure and activity in later childhood using computer modelling and machine learning. It will also give us completely new information about how the cortex's activity allows children to interact with the world around them. Together, the results of this research will provide important information about how the human cortex develops at the start of our lives in unprecedented detail, and new knowledge about how it allows us to interact with other people and the environment in childhood. I will openly share this information and the methods so that they can be used by the scientific community more widely to answer fundamental questions about the cortex and its development. This new knowledge will help doctors and scientists identify which children may have difficulties later in life, devise and start new treatments to prevent or treat abnormalities in their cortex, and will help to understand how they may cause conditions such as learning difficulties, autism spectrum conditions, and mental health disorders.

大脑最外层的大脑处理，被称为皮层，对日常行为至关重要，包括我们如何与周围的世界和其他人互动。大脑皮层的形状和组成及其活动异常，在许多疾病中发现，包括癫痫，学习困难和精神健康障碍。这些异常可能出现在我们生命的开始，当皮层快速发育，因此对疾病或损伤非常敏感，特别是那些在发育过程中损害其氧气供应的疾病或损伤。然而，目前医院使用的超声或标准MRI扫描等方法无法提供足够的细节来识别这些皮质异常是如何发生的，或者它们与疾病过程的确切关系。因此，这项研究的目标是利用MRI扫描的最新进展来了解异常的皮层发育如何在人类早期出现，以及这如何导致儿童后期的行为和学习困难。这将通过研究90名从出生到2岁半的婴儿来实现。已知这些婴儿中有60人在其一生中具有改变其大脑皮层发育的高风险，最有可能的是在正常出生时间之前的关键时期（通过早产或患有遗传性心脏病），大脑皮层缺氧。30个将是足月出生的健康婴儿，他们应该发育正常。通过研究这三组，我们不仅可以获得有关大脑皮层正常形成和受疾病影响的新信息，而且还可能发现新的治疗目标。招募的婴儿将在出生后不久使用超高场（7特斯拉）MRI扫描仪进行研究，该扫描仪提供比标准MRI扫描仪更详细的图像，包括有关发育中的大脑皮层形状，血液供应，氧含量和化学含量。然后，这些复杂的信息将与大脑皮层的活动相关，大脑皮层的活动在出生前后迅速变化和成熟。至关重要的是，这将是英国使用这种扫描仪从婴儿身上获得的第一批图像，因此将代表全新的知识。作为蹒跚学步的孩子，孩子们会发展新的行为，使他们能够了解周围的世界，包括与其他人互动。大脑是如何变化以允许这种情况发生的尚不清楚，部分原因是研究这个年龄段的儿童非常具有挑战性，特别是在MRI扫描仪内。为了克服这个问题，我们开发了一种新的虚拟现实（VR）系统，在进行MRI扫描的同时为儿童提供有趣和身临其境的体验，因此首次可以在儿童清醒并在VR环境中玩耍时从他们那里获得大脑的详细图片。这将使我们能够使用计算机建模和机器学习来比较婴儿时期的大脑皮层与童年后期的结构和活动之间的关系。它还将为我们提供关于大脑皮层活动如何使儿童与周围世界互动的全新信息。总之，这项研究的结果将提供有关人类大脑皮层如何在我们生命开始时以前所未有的细节发展的重要信息，以及有关它如何使我们在童年与其他人和环境互动的新知识。我将公开分享这些信息和方法，以便科学界更广泛地使用它们来回答有关大脑皮层及其发育的基本问题。这些新知识将帮助医生和科学家确定哪些儿童在以后的生活中可能会有困难，设计和开始新的治疗方法来预防或治疗他们大脑皮层的异常，并将有助于了解他们如何导致学习困难，自闭症谱系障碍和心理健康障碍等疾病。