Music impacts brain cortical microstructural maturation in very preterm infants: A longitudinal diffusion MR imaging study.

ABSTRACT: Preterm birth disrupts important neurodevelopmental processes occurring from mid-fetal to term-age. Musicotherapy, by enriching infants' sensory input, might enhance brain maturation during this critical period of activity-dependent plasticity. To study the impact of music on preterm infants' brain structural changes, we recruited 54 very preterm infants randomized to receive or not a daily music intervention, that have undergone a longitudinal multi-shell diffusion MRI acquisition, before the intervention (at 33 weeks' gestational age) and after it (at term-equivalent-age). Using whole-brain fixel-based (FBA) and NODDI analysis (n = 40), we showed a longitudinal increase of fiber cross-section (FC) and fiber density (FD) in all major cerebral white matter fibers. Regarding cortical grey m

SUBMITTER: Sa de Almeida J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10200857 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature