Cerebral blood oxygenation changes induced by auditory stimulation in newborn infants measured by near infrared spectroscopy

Kaoru Sakatani , Saying Chen , Wemara Lichty, Huancong Zuo , Yu-ping Wang, Early Human Development 55 ( 1999) 229 – 236

Recent neuronal activation studies on newborns using functional MRI or near infrared spectroscopy ( NIRS) have suggested that the increase in O consumption accompanying2 neuronal activation exceeds the increase in O delivery in the visual cortex during photic2 stimulation. In the present study, we evaluated the cerebral blood oxygenation ( CBO) changes induced by auditory stimulation in the frontal lobe of newborns using NIRS. We studied 28 newborns; the postnatal age at CBO measurements was 3.160.3 days (mean6S.E.M.). We measured concentration changes of deoxyhemoglobin ( Deoxy-Hb), oxyhemoglobin ( Oxy-Hb), and total hemoglobin ( Total-Hb) induced by auditory (music) stimulation in the bilateral frontal lobes of the newborns. Twenty-six ( 92.9%) out of 28 subjects showed increases of Oxy-Hb and Total-Hb during the stimulation. In these subjects, 17 ( 60.7%) subjects showed an increase of Deoxy-Hb associated with increases of Oxy-Hb and Total-Hb, while nine ( 32.1%) subjects showed a decrease of Deoxy-Hb. Although the direction of the Deoxy-Hb differed, these two groups did not differ for Oxy-Hb and Total-Hb (P . 0.05). Two ( 7.1%) subjects showed other changes. The frontal lobe of newborns shows CBO responses similar to those observed in the visual cortex, specifically neuronal activation causes an increase of Deoxy-Hb associated with increases of Oxy-Hb and Total-Hb. These results support the hypothesis that increments in O2 consumption exceed increments in O delivery during neuronal activity in newborns

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