Pre-natal and neonatal neuroimaging in the BiSC cohort

Background and aim: The Barcelona Life Study Cohort (BiSC) aims to evaluate, among others, the effect of pre-natal urbanome on pre- and postnatal brain structure and function in a cohort of 1086 mothers-child pairs recruited during the years 2018-2021. Methods: We conducted transvaginal neurosonography at week 32 in 1014 (93%) pregnant women and brain MRI in 132 neonates at day 28 of life, done while the infants were asleep. Results: Neurosonography reliably captured size of different brain structures, depth and degree of maturation of specific cortical fissures and sulci, and the area of the corpus callosum and lateral ventricles in around 80% of the acquisitions. Complete acquisition of MRI was obtained in 54 of the 132 neonates (41%). Anatomical acquisition was obtained in 104 and 108 babies (3D-T1 and Flair-T2, respectively), fMRI in 74 babies (resting state) and DTI in 63 babies. Conclusions: Early-life brain imaging variables, that have been shown to have a predictive value for outcomes in postnatal life, or to be associated with myelination affected by urbanome (such as pre-selected sensorimotor pathways and white matter tracks) could be reliably measured in general population studies. Keywords: Pregnant women, neonates, brain development. Funding: This project has received funding from the ERC-AdG-2018 AIR-NB project (GA: 785994).