Spatiotemporal development of structure-function coupling during the perinatal period

Motivation: Structure-function coupling (SFC) has been proposed to decode the relationship between anatomical structure and neural activity, but how SFC develops in the perinatal period remains largely unknown. Goal(s): To establish typical SFC map at birth and portray its development during the perinatal period. Approach: SFC of neonatal brains from 26 to 45 postmenstrual weeks were characterized using the dHCP data, and compared to that of adults. The developmental trajectories were depicted by GLM. Results: SFC at birth already demonstrated a sensorimotor-to-association pattern but were immature in somatomotor and frontoparietal networks compared to adults. SFC increased extensively and fastest in visual and limbic networks. Impact: This study fills a gap in the SFC research during early development. Our findings characterized the brain connectome in term- and preterm-born neonates, revealing that visual regions developed earlier than somatomotor regions.