Optical Brain Imaging as an Assessment Tool for Nutrition Related Cognitive Development in Rural Gambia: Studies from Birth to 24 Months of Age

Abstract

Objectives: Appropriate nutrition in the first 1000 days of life is essential for optimal brain development and function. Neurobehavioral assessments of cognitive function can only detect effects of nutritional deficiencies once they reach the point of observable behaviour, thus reducing the efficacy of early intervention strategies. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the use of optical imaging as an assessment tool for cognitive function in the first two years of life for nutrition based studies in a resource poor settings. Methods: Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is an optical imaging technique which has been widely used to study cognitive function in infants in the developed world. Systems are portable and easy to setup, protocols are tolerant of participant motion, and non experts can easily be trained to perform the studies. We transported an NIRS system to a field station in rural Gambia to study infants from three age groups (4-8 month-olds n = 24; 9-13 month olds n = 26; 18-24 month-olds, n = 20) and used it to measure brain activation to visual and auditory social and non social stimuli. Results: Significant localised brain activation was seen during auditory social (e.g., laughter) compared to auditory non social (e.g., toy rattles) conditions - as well as to visual social (human peek-a-boo) compared to visual non social (transport images). Conclusions: These results confirm the viability of optical neuroimaging in resource poor settings, and its potential as an assessment tool for nutrition related studies of cognitive function.