Shedding light on the neonatal brain: probing cerebral hemodynamics by diffuse optical spectroscopic methods

Investigating the cerebral physiology of healthy term newborns’ brains is important for better understanding perinatal brain injuries, of which the most common etiologies are hypoxia and ischemia. Hence, cerebral blood flow and cerebral oxygenation are important biomarkers of brain health. In this study, we employed a hybrid diffuse optical system consisting of diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) and frequency-domain near infrared spectroscopy (FDNIRS) to measure hemoglobin concentration, oxygen saturation, and indices of cerebral blood flow and metabolism. We measured 30 term infants to assess the optical and physiological characteristics of the healthy neonatal brain in the frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes. We observed higher metabolism in the right hemisphere compared to the left and a positive correlation between gestational age and the level of cerebral hemoglobin concentration, blood volume, and oxygen saturation. Moreover, we observed higher cerebral blood flow and lower oxygen saturation in females compared to males. The delayed maturation in males and the sexual dimorphism in cerebral hemodynamics may explain why males are more vulnerable to perinatal brain injuries than females.