Differences in Thalamic Activity & in the Temporal Pattern of Bold Signal between Neonates Born at Term & Preterm: A fMRI Study During Passive Auditory Stimulation.

Elisa Scola¹, Silvia Pontesilli¹, Roberta Scotti¹, Valeria Blasi¹, Roberta Longaretti¹, Paola Scifo¹,², Sara Cirillo¹, Antonella Iadanza¹, Antonella Poloniato³, Graziano Barera³, Giuseppe Scotti¹, Cristina Baldoli¹

Aim of this study was to asses, with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in non-sedated preterm and healthy term neonates, the maturation of cortical areas activated during linguistic passive stimulation. Twenty preterm infants, 25-33 weeks of gestational age, and 16 at term newborn subjects underwent a longitudinal 3 Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. The longitudinal aspect of this study allowed the observation of the functional modifications of the auditory cortex during brain development since 29th week of EA. Moreover, results demonstrated a bilateral posterior thalamic activation in healthy term neonates not present in neonates born preterm.