Fetal Response to a Maternal Internal Auditory Stimulus
Abstract
Background: Functional MRI (fMRI) is a noninvasive method to investigate the neural correlates of brain development. Insight into the rapidly developing brain in utero is limited, and fetal fMRI can be used to gain a greater understanding of the developmental process. Fetal brain fMRI is typically limited to resting‐state fMRI due to the difficulty to instruct or provide a stimulus to the fetus. Previous studies have employed auditory task fMRI with an external sound stimulus directly on the abdomen of the mother; however, this practice has since been deemed unsafe for the developing fetus. Purpose: To investigate a reliable and safe paradigm to study the development of fetal brain networks, we postulated that an internal task, such as the mother's singing, as the auditory stimulus would result in activation in the fetal primary auditory cortex. Study type: Cohort. Population: Pregnant women with singleton pregnancies (n = 9; 33–38 weeks gestational age). Field Strength/Sequence: All subjects underwent two task‐based block design blood oxygen level‐dependent (BOLD) at 1.5T or 3T. Assessment: Each volume was assessed for fetal motion and manually reoriented and realigned to correct for fetal motion. Once the motion was corrected, a gestational age‐matched parcellated atlas with regions of interest overlaid onto the activation map was used to determine which regions in the brain had activation during task phases. Statistical Tests: First Level Analysis. MRI data were analyzed using SPM 12 as a task fMRI. Results: Eight subjects had activation on the right Heschl's gyrus; six fetuses demonstrated activation on the left when exposed to the internal acoustic stimulus. Additionally, activation was found on the right and left middle cingulate cortex (MCC) and the left putamen. Data Conclusion: Maternal singing can be used as an internal stimulus to activate the auditory network and Heschl's gyrus during fetal fMRI. Level of Evidence 2 Technical Efficacy Stage 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2020;52:139–145.
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Task-based fetal studies show activation in audition-related regions in the temporal lobe, including Heschl's gyrus, in response to auditory stimulus.
“Most of these examine fetal responses to auditory stimulus (e.g., maternal voice and music) and show activation in audition-related regions in the temporal lobe, including the Heschl’s gyrus.”
From Brain structural and functional outcomes in the offspring of women experiencing psychological distress during pregnancy (2024) · cites this paper as [76]
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“Even so, there have been a few in-utero task-based studies [72 – 76].”
Background
- Authors
- Goldberg, E., McKenzie, C. A., de Vrijer, B., Eagleson, R., & de Ribaupierre, S.
- Affiliations
- Western University (CA)
- Children's Health Research Institute Western University London Ontario Canada
- Biomedical Engineering Western University London Ontario Canada
- Venue
- Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-01-17
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 139-145
- ISSN
- 1053-1807 (ISSN-L)
- 1522-2586
- OpenAlex
- W3000240364
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 1.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Scholarship@Western (Western University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Canada First Research Excellence Fund (BrainsCAN)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Fetal and Pediatric Neurological Disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Keywords
- fetal brain development, maternal singing, Heschl's gyrus, primary auditory cortex, middle cingulate cortex, putamen, task-based fMRI
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Auditory Cortex, Brain, Brain Mapping, Female, Fetus, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Pregnancy
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