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FRIMEDBIO-Fri prosj.st. med.,helse,biol

Pre- and postnatal environmental and genetic factors in relation to brain development in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study

Awarded: NOK 10.9 mill.

In year 1, we developed protocols for testing and examinations, planned strategies for recruitment in collaboration with Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the Medical Birth Registry of Norway, and procedures for recruitment, testing and scanning were coordinated and standardized between collaborating sites (UiO and NTNU). In year 2, we started the follow-up examinations. While some more participants than we initially hoped did not take part in the follow-up, most agreed to take part in the 2nd round, yielding very exciting longitudinal data. By the end of the 3rd year, we have run the participants through the examinations twice, and have started to study the relationship between individual differences in changes in brain and cognition, and the impact of different influencing factors. We started by analyzing baseline data, and papers based primarily on data from the project is now published, in addition to project data being used in several other papers. Especially, we focused on memory, and how development of brain structures important for memory. Among other things, we have studied how the volumes of different parts of the hippocampus develop faster in early childhood years than later. The different parts, so-called subfields, develop at roughly the same pace, but with certain notable differences. We have also studied how structural traits of other brain regions are important for short-term memory in childhood. We are now working on further analyzes of longitudinal data, which is especially interesting, and will yield knowledge about the relationship between brain maturation, cognitive development and influencing factors. Preliminary results are exciting, and focus in the project has now bee to analyze longitudinal data on structural and functional connectivity in relation to cognitive development. There has been extended international collaboration, and one of the PhD students in the project spent three months at the University of Oxford last year. In this latter year of the project, we have finally coupled with data from the Norwegian Mother Child-Cohort study and written a paper on the relationship of pre- and neonatal factors and later cortical development. This work is currently under evaluation.

The aim is to establish a database of brain and behavioral measures to track neurocognitive development in children recruited trough the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) undertaken by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Questionnaire a nd biological data were gathered pre- and postnatally for 100.000 children born 1999-2008 to illuminate public health issues. The primary objective of this subproject is to relate brain development by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to pre- and postnatal circumstances and functioning in 700 of the children, testing how genetic variations and pre- and postnatal environmental factors interact in the development of brain, cognition and coping in normal and at risk (preterm born) children. Children aged 4-11 will be recruited and scanned and assessed twice with cognitive and screening tests, a year apart. Normal variation in behavioral outcomes and consequences of health problems studied in MoBa, e.g. cognitive problems in children born prematurely (n=100) o r with low birth weight are mediated by cerebral characteristics, and data on brain development will become part of the MoBa database. We will study six questions forming secondary objectives of the project: 1) What are the trajectories of regional develo pment of the brain?s connections and neuronal tissue? 2) How does regional brain development relate to the child`s developmental progress, coping and cognitive functioning? 3) How are brain and cognitive development modulated by genetic variations? 4) How do gestational age at birth, birth weight and neonatal health relate to brain and cognitive development? 5) How are pre- and postnatal nutrition related to brain and cognitive development? 6) Is moderate prenatal exposure to commonly used drugs related t o brain development? The project involves broad national and international collaboration. The results will aid understanding of the cerebral basis for early development and may aid early intervention and diagnosis.

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FRIMEDBIO-Fri prosj.st. med.,helse,biol

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