The brains of prematurely born baby boys are affected differently and more severely than the brains of premature girls.This is the conclusion of a study published in the journalNature Pediatric Research,The authors of which used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as part of an ongoing study of premature babies to examine how the brains of premature babies of both sexes changed and developed.
The researchers took high-quality MRI images of the brains of 33 kids.The sample included babies whose delivery was carried to term (at least 38 weeks) and preterm (born at less than 37 weeks). These images were analyzed along with information gathered from questionnaires completed by the mothers of the babies and other data collected from the time they were born.Follow-up was carried out until the children were 12 months old.
“The window between birth and one year of age is the most important time in terms of brain development. Therefore,studying the brain during this period is important to better understand how the premature brain develops“, explains Amanda Benavides, co-author of the work.
Brain measurements taken from MRI images showed that even at this young age,there are significant sex differences in the structure of the brain,and these are independent of the effects of being born prematurely.
Brain tissue is divided into brain gray matter, which includes brain regions that influence muscle control, senses, memory, speech, and emotion, and brain white matter, which helps bind different parts of gray matter together. . While boys’ brains were generally larger in terms of volume, girls had proportionally greater volumes of gray matter and boys had proportionally greater volumes of white matter. These same sex differences are seen in children and adults, and therefore document how early in life these differences are seen.
Regarding the effects of prematurity, the researchers found that the earlier a baby was born, the lower its total brain volume . However, the effect of prematurity on specific tissues was different depending on the gestational age of the baby in relation to its sex. The earlier a baby was born, the less its cortex (gray matter) volume was. In the case of girls, it was the volume of white matter in their brain, which was significantly lower. In general, although the effects of prematurity were seen in both boys and girls, these effects were more severe for boys .
According to the team of scientists, it is well known that male fetuses are more vulnerable to developmental aberration and that this could lead to other unfavorable outcomes. The findings of this study add to this evidence by showing how the brains of babies born too early are affected differently from those of girls.
“Given this background, it seems likely and even expected that the effects of prematurity on brain development are more severe in males.” Premature brain processes incurred during the first weeks and months of life set the stage for an altered developmental trajectory that unfolds throughout the remainder of development and maturation, “concludes study co-author Peg Nopoulos.
Reference: Sex-specific alterations in preterm brain. Amanda Benavides, Andrew Metzger, Sasha Tereschenko, Amy Conrad, Edward F. Bell, John Spencer, Shannon Ross-Sheehy, Michael Georgieff, Vince Magnotta & Peg Nopoulos Pediatric Research (September 2018) | DOI: 10.1038 / s41390-018-0187-5
