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| Poster #273 Longer In-Utero Development Leads to Enhanced Functional Connectivity and Postnatal Experience-Dependent Refinement of the Olfactory Network |
| Johan N. Lundström1,2,3, Peter Fransson1, Fahimeh Darki1 1Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, --, Sweden 2Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, --, Sweden 3Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA, United States |
The sense of smell begins to function already in utero and continues to mature after birth as a crucial sense for infant-parental bonding. Animal models suggest a two-stage process for the development of the olfactory cortex; prenatal increase in neural connectivity followed by postnatal pruning and specificity. However, whether maturity or birth triggers this transition is not known. Here we aimed to determine whether this developmental pattern occurs in the human neonatal olfactory system and whether maturity or birth itself triggers the transition between stages. We utilized data from the Developing Human Connectome Project consisting of resting-state functional MRI scans of infants (n = 777), including both full-term and preterm births. In term-born infants (n = 501), a longer duration of in-utero development was associated with increased functional connectivity both within, and from, regions within the olfactory cortex. Critically, increased postpartum time was associated with a decrease in functional connectivity of the olfactory system, thereby supporting the existence of a two-stage process for olfactory development in typically developing neonates. Although preterm-born neonates had a similar increase in neural connectivity aligned with longer time in utero, that increase was weaker, compared with infants born at full term, and did not reach the optimal level to initiate pruning. These findings provide insights into the developmental patterns of primary olfactory networks in human neonates, shedding light on the dynamic processes occurring during early olfactory system maturation. |