biostudies-literatureThomason MENIDA NIH HHSNIEHS NIH HHSNIMH NIH HHSNational Institutes of Health40-50https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC7808399biostudies-literatureUnknown88(1)Magnetic resonance imaging, histological, and gene analysis approaches in living and nonliving human fetuses and in prematurely born neonates have provided insight into the staged processes of prenatal brain development. Increased understanding of micro- and macroscale brain network development before birth has spurred interest in understanding the relevance of prenatal brain development to common neurological diseases. Questions abound as to the sensitivity of the intrauterine brain to environmental programming, to windows of plasticity, and to the prenatal origin of disorders of childhood that involve disruptions in large-scale network connectivity. Much of the available literature on human prenatal neural development comes from cross-sectional or case studies that are not able to resolve the longitudinal consequences of individual variation in brain development before birth. This review will 1) detail specific methodologies for studying the human prenatal brain, 2) summarize large-scale human prenatal neural network development, integrating findings from across a variety of experimental approaches, 3) explore the plasticity of the early developing brain as well as potential sex differences in prenatal susceptibility, and 4) evaluate opportunities to link specific prenatal brain developmental processes to the forms of aberrant neural connectivity that underlie common neurological disorders of childhood.Biological psychiatryDevelopment of Brain Networks In Utero: Relevance for Common Neural Disorders.PMC7808399MH122447R01 ES032294R01 MH122447DA050287MH110793R21 ES026022R34 DA050287R01 MH110793Thomason MEfalseDevelopment of Brain Networks In Utero: Relevance for Common Neural Disorders.Magnetic resonance imaging, histological, and gene analysis approaches in living and nonliving human fetuses and in prematurely born neonates have provided insight into the staged processes of prenatal brain development. Increased understanding of micro- and macroscale brain network development before birth has spurred interest in understanding the relevance of prenatal brain development to common neurological diseases. Questions abound as to the sensitivity of the intrauterine brain to environmental programming, to windows of plasticity, and to the prenatal origin of disorders of childhood that involve disruptions in large-scale network connectivity. Much of the available literature on human prenatal neural development comes from cross-sectional or case studies that are not able to resolve the longitudinal consequences of individual variation in brain development before birth. This review will 1) detail specific methodologies for studying the human prenatal brain, 2) summarize large-scale human prenatal neural network development, integrating findings from across a variety of experimental approaches, 3) explore the plasticity of the early developing brain as well as potential sex differences in prenatal susceptibility, and 4) evaluate opportunities to link specific prenatal brain developmental processes to the forms of aberrant neural connectivity that underlie common neurological disorders of childhood.2020-01-01T00:00:00Z2020 Jul2025-05-31T22:33:26.036Z2021-02-20T23:27:06ZS-EPMC78083993230521710.1016/j.biopsych.2020.02.007