Study Sheds New Light on Development of Infant Brain

A new study by Columbia Engineering researchers has found that the infant brain does not control its blood flow in the same way as the adult brain. The paper, which the scientists say could change the way brain development is studied in infants and children, appears in the Feb. 18 Early Online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

“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 the 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. Many prior fMRI studies have overlooked the possibility that the infant brain controls blood flow differently.” For more information, click here to read the full release.