Functional near-infrared spectroscopy studies in children

Abstract

Psychosomatic and developmental behavioral medicine in pediatrics has been the subject of significant recent attention, with infants, school-age children, and adolescents frequently presenting with psychosomatic, behavioral, and psychiatric symptoms. These may be a consequence of insecurity of attachment, reduced self-confidence, and peer -relationship conflicts during their developmental stages. Developmental cognitive neuroscience has revealed significant associations between specific brain lesions and particular cognitive dysfunctions. Thus, identifying the biological deficits underlying such cognitive dysfunction may provide new insights into therapeutic prospects for the management of those symptoms in children. Recent advances in noninvasive neuroimaging techniques, and especially functional near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), have contributed significant findings to the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience in pediatrics. We present here a comprehensive review of functional NIRS studies of children who have developed normally and of children with psychosomatic and behavioral disorders.

Figure 1

NIRS apparatus, Hitachi Optical topography system ETG-4000 (Hitachi Medical Corp., Tokyo, Japan). The NIRS apparatus and ultrasound scanner were the same size. A head splint equipped with NIRS probes was attached (upper). Typical hemoglobin (Hb) response during a task (lower). The Hb concentrations are shown in red (oxy-Hb), yellow (total-Hb), and blue (deoxy-Hb). The blue and green vertical lines indicate the starting and ending times of a task, respectively.

Figure 2

Schematic image of neural signals in children while playing video games. Neuronal activity in the occipital area caused by visual stimulation transmits and activates the motor cortex area without involving the prefrontal neuronal activities. Blood flow in the prefrontal area might be diverted into the motor cortex area (curved arrows), as neuronal activities around the motor cortex were activated more with frequent tapping on the game controller.

Figure 3

Grand averages of the waveforms of each hemoglobin (Hb) change for all subjects (12 females with anorexia nervosa and 13 female controls) during each task. A representative channel in the prefrontal area is presented. The increase in oxy-Hb was larger in the anorexia nervosa group than in the control group during the attachment task. Unchanged or less fluctuating response patterns of each Hb concentration are shown in the anorexia nervosa group when viewing body type of high-calorie foods.