Mapping brain circuits in newborns may aid early detection of autism

A new map of newborn babies' brains offers details of structure that will provide a new reference for researchers studying both typical brain development and neurological disorders. Using noninvasive, 20-minute magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, researchers have revealed some of the complex and precisely organized brain architecture that emerges as the brain reshapes itself during the third trimester of pregnancy.
"We used cutting-edge methods to see microstructure throughout the brain during a critical period of maturation," said Hao Huang, Ph.D., a researcher in the Department of Radiology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). "In addition to characterizing typical brain development, these measurements offer the potential to detect biomarkers of autism spectrum disorder at an age that could allow early diagnosis and possibly early intervention."
The study, published this week in PNAS, analyzed 76 preterm and term newborns—47 males and 29 females—ranging in age from 31 to 42 postmenstrual weeks. Using advanced diffusion MRIs to measure patterns of water diffusion, the research team produced two measurements. One, called fractional anisotropy, measured microstructural organization; the other, a more complex model metric called mean kurtosis (MK), measured microstructural complexity. Huang's team is one of the earliest to use MK to measure microstructure in the brain's cerebral cortex.