TY - JOUR TI - Infant brain regional cerebral blood flow increases supporting emergence of the default-mode network AU - Yu, Qinlin AU - Ouyang, Minhui AU - Detre, John AU - Kang, Huiying AU - Hu, Di AU - Hong, Bo AU - Fang, Fang AU - Peng, Yun AU - Huang, Hao A2 - Behrens, Timothy E A2 - Dubois, Jessica VL - 12 PY - 2023 DA - 2023/01/24 SP - e78397 C1 - eLife 2023;12:e78397 DO - 10.7554/eLife.78397 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.78397 AB - Human infancy is characterized by most rapid regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) increases across lifespan and emergence of a fundamental brain system default-mode network (DMN). However, how infant rCBF changes spatiotemporally across the brain and how the rCBF increase supports emergence of functional networks such as DMN remains unknown. Here, by acquiring cutting-edge multi-modal MRI including pseudo-continuous arterial-spin-labeled perfusion MRI and resting-state functional MRI of 48 infants cross-sectionally, we elucidated unprecedented 4D spatiotemporal infant rCBF framework and region-specific physiology–function coupling across infancy. We found that faster rCBF increases in the DMN than visual and sensorimotor networks. We also found strongly coupled increases of rCBF and network strength specifically in the DMN, suggesting faster local blood flow increase to meet extraneuronal metabolic demands in the DMN maturation. These results offer insights into the physiological mechanism of brain functional network emergence and have important implications in altered network maturation in brain disorders. KW - infant brain KW - development KW - default-mode network KW - perfusion KW - functional connectivity KW - metabolism JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -