Research Report Differential effects of intrauterine growth restriction on brain structure and development in preterm infants: A magnetic resonance imaging study Nelly Padilla a, d, e , ⁎ , Carles Falcón d, f , Magdalena Sanz-Cortés a, d, e , Francesc Figueras a, d, e , Núria Bargallo c , d , Fátima Crispi a, d, e , Elisenda Eixarch a, d, e , Angela Arranz a, d, e , Francesc Botet b , Eduard Gratacós a, d, e a Department of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Hospital Clínic, Universidad de Barcelona, Calle Sabino de Arana 1, 08028, Barcelona, Spain b Department of Neonatology (ICGON), Hospital Clínic, Universidad de Barcelona, Calle Sabino de Arana 1, 08028, Barcelona, Spain c Department of Radiology (CDIC), Hospital Clínic, Universidad de Barcelona, Calle Sabino de Arana 1, 08028, Barcelona, Spain d Institut D'investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Spain e Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER), Spain f Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Enfermedades Raras en Bioingeniería, biomedicina y nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Calle Villarroel 170, 08036, Barcelona, Spain ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Accepted 11 January 2011 Available online 19 January 2011 Previous evidence suggests that preterm newborns with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) have specific neurostructural and neurodevelopmental anomalies, but it is unknown whether these effects persist in early childhood. We studied a sample of 18 preterm IUGR, 15 preterm AGA – born between 26 and 34 weeks of gestational age (GA) – and 15 healthy born- term infants. Infants were scanned at 12 months corrected age (CA), in a 3T scanner, without sedation. Analyses were made by automated lobar volumetry and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). The neurodevelopmental outcome was assessed in all subjects at 18 months CA with the Bayley Scale for Infant and Toddler Development, third edition. IUGR infants had reduced relative volumes for the insular and temporal lobes. According to VBM, IUGR infants had bilateral reduced gray matter (GM) in the temporal, parietal, frontal, and insular regions compared with the other groups. IUGR infants had increased white matter (WM) in temporal regions compared to the AGA group and in frontal, parietal, occipital, and insular regions compared to the term group. They also showed decreased WM in the cerebellum and a non-significant trend in the hippocampus compared to term infants. IUGR Keywords: Premature infants Intrauterine growth restriction Development Brain injury Magnetic resonance Voxel-based morphometry BRAIN RESEARCH 1382 (2011) 98 – 108 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Hospital Clínic, Universidad de Barcelona, Calle Sabino de Arana 1, 08028, Barcelona, Spain. Fax: +34 93 227 9336. E-mail address: fpadilla@clinic.ub.es (N. Padilla). Abbreviations: AGA, appropriate for gestational age; BSID-III, Bayley Scale for Infant Development-third edition; BW, birth weight; CA, corrected age; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; FL, frontal lobe; GA, gestational age; GM, gray matter; HC, head circumference; IL, insular lobe; ICV, intracranial volume; IUGR, intrauterine growth restriction; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; OL, occipital lobe; PL, parietal lobe; PVL, periventricular leukomalacia; SNAP-II, score for neonatal acute physiology, version-II; TBV, total brain volume; TL, temporal lobe; US, ultrasound; VBM, voxel-based morphometry; WM, white matter 0006-8993/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2011.01.032 available at www.sciencedirect.com www.elsevier.com/locate/brainres