The objective of this project is to develop fetal magnetoencephalography (FMEG) as a new technology for direct, noninvasive recording of brain activity from the human fetus in utero. Presently this cannot be accomplished by any means; thus the research could have a major impact on perinatal science and clinical practice. Potentially it could lead to a method for assessing neurological integrity of the fetus and for detecting brain dysfunction due to chronic intrauterine central nervous system insults, which may result in developmental difficulties, including cerebral palsy.
The specific aims of the proposed studied are: 1. To extend pilot studies to characterize more fully the fetal auditor evoked response (FAER) during the last trimester of pregnancy; 2. To record and characterize the neonatal auditory evoked response (NAER) and the spontaneous neonatal magnetoencephalogram (NMEG); 3. To demonstrate convincingly the feasibility of recording the spontaneous FMEG in utero; and 4. To develop signal processing methods to reduce interference from the fetal magnetocardiogram and other sources of noise.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01NS037740-01
Application #
2676721
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG7-SSS-X (03))
Program Officer
Spinella, Giovanna M
Project Start
1998-07-03
Project End
2001-06-30
Budget Start
1998-07-03
Budget End
1999-06-30
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
1998
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Physics
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Wakai, R T; Lutter, W J; Chen, M et al. (2007) On and Off magnetic auditory evoked responses in early infancy: a possible marker of brain immaturity. Clin Neurophysiol 118:1480-7
Chen, Mingli; Van Veen, Barry D; Wakai, Ronald T (2006) Linear minimum mean-square error filtering for evoked responses: application to fetal MEG. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 53:959-63
Rodriguez-Rivera, Alberto; Baryshnikov, Boris V; Van Veen, Barry D et al. (2006) MEG and EEG source localization in beamspace. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 53:430-41
Lutter, W J; Maier, M; Wakai, R T (2006) Development of MEG sleep patterns and magnetic auditory evoked responses during early infancy. Clin Neurophysiol 117:522-30
Wakai, Ronald T (2004) Assessment of fetal neurodevelopment via fetal magnetocardiography. Exp Neurol 190 Suppl 1:S65-71
Baryshnikov, Boris V; Van Veen, Barry D; Wakai, Ronald T (2004) Maximum-likelihood estimation of low-rank signals for multiepoch MEG/EEG analysis. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 51:1981-93
Wakai, Ronald T; Lutter, William J (2002) Matched-filter template generation via spatial filtering: application to fetal biomagnetic recordings. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 49:1214-7
Lengle, J M; Chen, M; Wakai, R T (2001) Improved neuromagnetic detection of fetal and neonatal auditory evoked responses. Clin Neurophysiol 112:785-92
Chen, M; Wakai, R T; Van Veen, B (2001) Eigenvector based spatial filtering of fetal biomagnetic signals. J Perinat Med 29:486-96