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.
