Motion Robust Mapping of Human Brain Functional Connectivity Changes in Utero

描述（由申请人提供）：准确绘制胎儿和早产儿大脑发育的正常和异常模式是早期检测发育障碍以及了解外部因素如何影响早期大脑发育的关键因素。快速多切片MRI技术与计算机视觉算法的组合最近提供了在子宫内可靠地对3D脑结构进行成像的能力，提供了超声成像无法获得的有价值的信息。为了补充这一新的结构信息，最近有越来越多的兴趣在使用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）映射的发展，静息态脑功能的儿童，早产儿，最近，胎儿在子宫内。这项工作揭示了一个可预测的发展路径的迹象，在形成休息状态模式的大脑活动存在于成人和异常，在这些模式的儿童已与神经和神经精神疾病在以后的生活。这种以前用于成人和儿童的功能磁共振成像方法可以为发育中的胎儿大脑的功能活动提供一个独特的新窗口。然而，所需的成像技术在胎儿中使用时受到重要的限制：它们利用重复采集，其中MR信号的细微变化提供感兴趣的测量。由于胎儿解剖结构、母体解剖结构和扫描仪之间的变化关系，扫描仪内的胎儿头部运动会干扰测量位置和信号电平。基于我们的初步结果，在这个建议中，我们计划开发一套新的信号和几何校正方法，专门为胎儿功能磁共振成像，联合收割机结合新的采集技术与后处理算法，提供一个新的途径来解决这些独特的问题。这将使我们能够从临床研究中观察到的年龄和活动水平的一系列未镇静胎儿中收集第一个准确的功能性MRI数据。我们将开发和验证这些方法与互补的模式分析技术，专门针对运动分散的数据，并利用它们来建立第一个结合的4D结构功能图的大脑发育在子宫内。这将首次显示结构变化和静息态脑活动模式的发展之间的时间和空间关系，涵盖了第一次临床MRI扫描的临界年龄和随后的皮质折叠期。这将有助于回答这样的问题：胎儿大脑的哪些组织区域开始这种活动，以及功能模式是否与特定皮层形成的时间有关。 褶皱。我们将收集一系列数据，这些数据将捕获不同年龄和不同活动状态的胎儿，代表典型临床研究中观察到的数据，此外，还将收集出生后婴儿的有价值结局指标，并将对宫内指标进行评价。我们以开放获取的4D地图集的形式向整个社区发布数据。这种结合的结构-功能数据将为神经科学提供独特的新参考，并从长远来看，为妊娠和早产期间大脑健康的临床评估提供参考。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Accurate mapping of normal and abnormal patterns of brain development in fetuses and premature neonates is a key factor in the early detection of developmental disorders as well as understanding how external factors can influence early brain growth. The combination of fast multi-slice MRI techniques with computer vision algorithms has recently provided the ability to reliably image 3D brain structure in-utero providing valuable information inaccessible to ultrasound imaging. To complement this new structural information, recently there has been increasing interest in the use of functional MR imaging (fMRI) to map the development of resting state brain function in children, premature neonates and, most recently, fetuses in-utero. This work has revealed signs of a predictable developmental path in the formation of resting state patterns of brain activity present in adults and abnormalities in these patterns in children have been linked with neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions in later life. Such fMRI methods, previously used in adults and children, could provide a unique new window into functional activity in the developing fetal brain. However, the imaging techniques required suffer from an important limitation for use in the fetus: they make use of repeated acquisitions where subtle changes in MR signal provide the measure of interest. Fetal head motion within the scanner perturbs both measurement location and signal level due to the changing relationship between fetal anatomy, maternal anatomy and the scanner. Based on our preliminary results, in this proposal we plan to develop a set of new signal and geometry correction methods specifically for fetal fMRI that combine novel acquisition techniques with post-processing algorithms to provide a new route to addressing these unique problems. This will allow us to collect the first accurate functional MRI data from a range of un-sedated fetuses in ages and activity levels seen in clinical studies. We will develop and validate these methods together with complementary pattern analysis techniques specifically aimed at motion scattered data and employ them to build the first combined 4D structure-function map of brain development in-utero. This will show for the first time the temporal and spatial relationship between structural changes and the development of resting state patterns of brain activity covering the critical age of first clinical MRI scan and the following period of cortical folding. his will help answer such questions as: which tissue zones of the fetal brain such activity begins, and whether the functional patterns are related to the timing of the formation of specific cortical folds. We will collect a range of data that captures fetuses both at different ages and different states of activity representing those seen in typical clinical studies, and in addition collect valuable outcome measures on the babies after birth against which in-utero measure will be evaluated. We release the data to the community as a whole in the form of an open-access 4D atlas. This combined structure-function data will provide a unique new reference for both neuroscience and, in the longer term, clinical evaluation of brain health during pregnancy and premature birth.