Engineering Study Sheds New Light on Infant Brain Development

A new study by Columbia Engineering researchers finds that the infant brain does not control its blood flow in the same way as the adult brain. The findings, which the scientists say could change the way researchers study brain development in infants and children, are published in the February 18 Early Online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Development of the hemodynamic response - Left: Representative gray-scale MS-OISI images of the cortical surface and difference maps displaying changes in total hemoglobin concentration in response to stimulation for three age groups. Right: Averaged oxygenated, deoxygenated, and total hemoglobin time-courses for each age group. Gray region denotes the stimulation period. "The control of blood flow in the brain is very important," says Elizabeth Hillman , associate professor of biomedical engineering and of radiology, who led the research study in her Laboratory for Functional Optical Imaging at Columbia. "Not only are regionally specific increases in blood flow necessary for normal brain function, but these blood-flow increases form the basis of signals measured in fMRI, a critical imaging tool used widely in adults and children to assess brain function.