Division of Neuro- and Musculoskeletal Radiology, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria.
Computational Imaging Research Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2014 Oct 2;8:775. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00775. eCollection 2014.
While the visuomotor system is known to develop rapidly after birth, studies have observed spontaneous activity in vertebrates in visually excitable cortical areas already before extrinsic stimuli are present. Resting state networks and fetal eye movements were observed independently in utero, but no functional brain activity coupled with visual stimuli could be detected using fetal fMRI. This study closes this gap and links in utero eye movement with corresponding functional networks. BOLD resting-state fMRI data were acquired from seven singleton fetuses between gestational weeks 30-36 with normal brain development. During the scan time, fetal eye movements were detected and tracked in the functional MRI data. We show that already in utero spontaneous fetal eye movements are linked to simultaneous networks in visual- and frontal cerebral areas. In our small but in terms of gestational age homogenous sample, evidence across the population suggests that the preparation of the human visuomotor system links visual and motor areas already prior to birth.
虽然视觉运动系统在出生后迅速发展，但研究已经观察到在存在外部刺激之前，脊椎动物在视觉兴奋的皮质区域中就存在自发活动。静息状态网络和胎儿眼球运动在子宫内是独立观察到的，但使用胎儿 fMRI 无法检测到与视觉刺激相关的功能性大脑活动。本研究填补了这一空白，并将子宫内眼球运动与相应的功能网络联系起来。从正常脑发育的 30-36 孕周的 7 名单胎胎儿中采集了 BOLD 静息态 fMRI 数据。在扫描过程中，在功能磁共振成像数据中检测并跟踪了胎儿眼球运动。我们表明，子宫内的自发胎儿眼球运动已经与视觉和额皮质区域的同时网络相关联。在我们这个小但在妊娠年龄上同质的样本中，整个群体的证据表明，人类视觉运动系统的准备工作已经在出生前将视觉和运动区域联系起来。
