Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Department of Pulmonology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Sci Rep. 2023 Feb 4;13(1):2055. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-29129-3.
Brain connectivity closely reflects brain function and behavior. Sleep EEG coherence, a measure of brain's connectivity during sleep, undergoes pronounced changes across development under the influence of environmental factors. Yet, the determinants of the developing brain's sleep EEG coherence from the child's family environment remain unknown. After characterizing high-density sleep EEG coherence in 31 healthy 6-month-old infants by detecting strongly synchronized clusters through a data-driven approach, we examined the association of sleep EEG coherence from these clusters with factors from the infant's family environment. Clusters with greatest coherence were observed over the frontal lobe. Higher delta coherence over the left frontal cortex was found in infants sleeping in their parents' room, while infants sleeping in a room shared with their sibling(s) showed greater delta coherence over the central parts of the frontal cortex, suggesting a link between local brain connectivity and co-sleeping. Finally, lower occipital delta coherence was associated with maternal anxiety regarding their infant's sleep. These interesting links between sleep EEG coherence and family factors have the potential to serve in early health interventions as a new set of targets from the child's immediate environment.
脑连接紧密反映了大脑功能和行为。睡眠脑电图相干性是衡量睡眠中大脑连接的一种指标，在环境因素的影响下，它在发育过程中会发生明显变化。然而，儿童家庭环境对发育中大脑睡眠脑电图相干性的决定因素尚不清楚。通过数据驱动的方法检测到强同步集群，我们在 31 名健康 6 个月大的婴儿中对高密度睡眠脑电图相干性进行了特征描述，然后我们研究了这些集群的睡眠脑电图相干性与婴儿家庭环境因素之间的关联。在额叶上观察到具有最大相干性的集群。在与父母同睡的婴儿中，左额叶的 delta 相干性较高，而与兄弟姐妹同睡的婴儿的额叶中部 delta 相干性较高，这表明局部脑连接性与共睡之间存在联系。最后，枕部 delta 相干性较低与母亲对婴儿睡眠的焦虑有关。这些睡眠脑电图相干性与家庭因素之间的有趣联系有可能作为儿童即时环境中的一组新目标，用于早期健康干预。
