Fundamentals of the Development of Connectivity in the Human Fetal Brain in Late Gestation: From 24 Weeks Gestational Age to Term.

ABSTRACT: During the second half of gestation, the human cerebrum undergoes pivotal histogenetic events that underlie functional connectivity. These include the growth, guidance, selection of axonal pathways, and their first engagement in neuronal networks. Here, we characterize the spatiotemporal patterns of cerebral connectivity in extremely preterm (EPT), very preterm (VPT), preterm and term babies, focusing on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and histological data. In the EPT and VPT babies, thalamocortical axons enter into the cortical plate creating the electrical synapses. Additionally, the subplate zone gradually resolves in the preterm and term brain in conjunction with the growth of associative pathways leading to the activation of large-scale neural networks. We demonstrate that specific

SUBMITTER: Kostovic I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8054138 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature