Clinical neuroscience and neurostimulation laboratory, Centre de recherche du CHUQ, Québec, QC, Canada.
Acta Paediatr. 2012 Oct;101(10):1045-53. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2012.02770.x. Epub 2012 Jul 17.
Given that prematurity has deleterious effects on brain networking development beyond childhood, the study explored whether an early intervention such as Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) in very preterm preemies could have influenced brain motor function up to adolescence.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied over the primary motor cortex (M1) of 39 adolescents born very prematurely (<33 weeks' gestational age, 21 having received KMC after birth, 18 Controls with no KMC) and nine adolescents born at term (>37 weeks' gestational age, >2500 g) to assess the functional integrity of motor circuits in each hemisphere (motor planning) and between hemispheres (callosal function).
All TMS outcomes were similar between KMC and term adolescents, with typical values as in healthy adults, and better than in Controls. KMC adolescents presented faster conduction times revealing more efficient M1 cell synchronization (p < 0.05) and interhemispheric transfer time (p < 0.0001), more frequent inhibitory processes with a better control between hemispheres (p < 0.0001).
The enhanced synchronization, conduction times and connectivity of cerebral motor pathways in the KMC group suggests that the Kangaroo Mother Care positively influenced the premature brain networks and synaptic efficacy up to adolescence.
鉴于早产儿在儿童期之后对大脑网络发育仍有不良影响，本研究探讨了袋鼠式护理（KMC）等早期干预措施是否会对非常早产儿的大脑运动功能产生影响，直至青春期。
对 39 名早产儿（<33 周胎龄）和 9 名足月产儿（>37 周胎龄，>2500 克）的大脑初级运动皮层（M1）进行经颅磁刺激（TMS），以评估每个半球的运动回路功能完整性（运动规划）和两个半球之间的功能连接（胼胝体功能）。
KMC 组和足月组的所有 TMS 结果均相似，具有与健康成年人相似的典型值，且优于对照组。KMC 组的传导时间更快，这表明 M1 细胞的同步性更高（p<0.05），两个半球之间的信息传递更快（p<0.0001），抑制过程更为频繁，两侧大脑半球之间的控制更好（p<0.0001）。
KMC 组大脑运动通路的同步性、传导时间和连接性增强，表明袋鼠式护理对早产儿的大脑网络和突触效能产生了积极影响，直至青春期。
