Premium
Brain imaging of nutrition related cognitive development in rural Gambia: studies from birth to 24 months of age (619.1)
Author(s) -
Halliday Drew,
LloydFox Sarah,
Begus Katarina,
Maris Helen,
Papademetriou Maria,
Everdell Nick,
Darboe Momodou,
Prentice Andrew,
Moore Sophie,
Elwell Clare
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.619.1
Subject(s) - cognition , audiology , neuroimaging , psychology , medicine , developmental psychology , neuroscience
Appropriate nutrition in the first 1000 days of life is essential for optimal brain development and function. Neurobehavioral assessments of cognitive function can only be used to detect effects of nutritional deficiencies once they reach the point of observable behaviour, thus reducing the possibility of targeted early intervention strategies. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the use of optical imaging as an assessment tool for cognitive function in the first two years of life for nutrition based studies in a resource poor setting. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is an optical imaging technique which measures the haemodynamic response to neuronal activation. A typical system comprises pairs of optical sources and detectors placed over the scalp using a lightweight headband. Each source‐detector pair provides a measure of regional changes in haemodynamics from which an image of localised brain function can be reconstructed. NIRS is completely non invasive, systems are portable, easy to setup and run, protocols are tolerant of participant motion, and non experts can easily be trained to perform the studies. We transported an NIRS system to a field station in rural Gambia to study infants from three age groups (4‐8 month‐olds n = 24; 9‐13 month olds n = 26; 18‐24 month‐olds, n = 20). NIRS was used to measure brain activation to visual and auditory social and non social stimuli. Significant activation was seen during auditory social (e.g., laughter) compared to auditory non social (e.g., toy rattles) conditions ‐ as well as to visual social (human peek‐a‐boo) compared to visual non social (transport images) ‐ in channels localised over the right posterior temporal hemisphere. These results confirm the viability of optical neuroimaging techniques to assess cognitive function in resource poor settings, and suggest that vocal selectivity can be used to differentiate neurodevelopmental trends in visual and auditory processing during the critical first 1000 days of life. Grant Funding Source : Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation