How Premature Birth Affects Brain Development

This piece, by Onno Berkan, was published on 04/08/25. The original text, by Gondova at el., was published by the Journal of Human Brain Mapping on 04/2025.

The researchers conducted multiple brain scans on the premature infants, once shortly after birth and again near their original due date (actual terminology), to track how their brains changed over time.

The study focused on two key aspects of brain development: the physical structure of brain tissue (structural connectivity) and how different brain regions communicate (functional connectivity). Using fMRI, the researchers could measure these properties across various brain regions.

Their findings revealed several important insights. First, the physical structure and functional communication between brain regions gradually strengthened as the babies developed. However, these changes varied significantly across different brain parts, likely reflecting how various brain regions mature at different rates. 

Functional and structural connectivity were found to be interrelated early on, changing at around the same rate, but not for long. Functional connectivity overtook its structural counterpart, implying that, at some point, changes in physical structure slow down and the brain moves towards greater functional specialization and complexity.

The study also found that premature birth affected brain development in various ways. Premature infants showed signs of accelerated physical brain development in certain areas, possibly because they experienced the outside world earlier than full-term babies. However, they also showed reduced functional connectivity compared to full-term infants, suggesting their brain networks weren't communicating as effectively.

Looking at specific brain connections, the researchers found that some pathways, particularly those involved in essential sensory and movement functions, were already well-developed early on. This makes sense since these are crucial functions needed right after birth. Other connections, especially higher-order ones, develop more gradually over time.

One of the study's most significant conclusions was that while the direct relationship between physical and functional brain development decreased over time, the overall organization of brain networks became more aligned as the brain matured. This suggests that early brain development involves a complex process where physical and functional aspects initially develop in close coordination, but then become more specialized while maintaining a shared underlying organization.

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