BCCHR Summer Student Research Program Poster Day 2026 - Mo et al.
Investigating Age- and Injury-Related Changes in Non-Heme Iron and Myelin in Very and Extremely Preterm Neonates using QSM
Ran Mo¹, Floria Lu¹, Cecil Chau¹, Steven Ufkes¹˒², Steven Miller¹˒², Ruth Grunau¹˒², Thiviya Selvanathan¹˒², Alexander Rauscher¹˒², Jessie Guo³, Alexander M. Weber¹˒²
(1) Institute of Research, BC Children’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada; (2) Dept. of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; (3) The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Presentation Info
Conference: BCCHR Summer Student Research Program Poster Day 2026
Session: In-Person Presentations - Session #3
Time: 9:00 - 10:15 am
Location: SHY Auditorium
Format: 5 minutes presentation + up to 5 minutes for questions
Abstract
Neonates born very or extremely preterm (< 32 and < 28 weeks’ gestational age [GA] respectively) are highly susceptible to poor neurodevelopmental outcomes due to frequent brain injuries, highlighting the need to detect and treat these injuries early following birth. Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) allows for the direct, non-invasive quantification of magnetic products in the brain which may differ abnormally following brain injury such as non-heme iron and myelin. This study aims to investigate correlations between iron and myelin in deep grey matter (DGM) structures with GA, postmenstrual age (PMA), and brain injury severity (intraventricular hemorrhage [IVH] and white matter injury [WMI]), as well as with motor and cognitive outcomes at 18- and 36-month follow-up assessments.
81 scans from 52 preterm neonates (median GA = 28.6 weeks) were acquired at early-life age (median PMA = 32.6 weeks) and/or at term-equivalent age (median PMA = 41.2 weeks). DGM structures (thalamus, caudate nucleus, and lentiform nucleus) were manually segmented and the average magnetic susceptibility (Chi, proportional to iron and inversely proportional to myelin) was extracted for each region. A linear mixed effects model was used to assess relationships between regional Chi values, GA, PMA, and brain injury, and multivariate linear regression was used to assess correlations between motor and cognitive scores and regional Chi values while controlling for confounding variables such as gender and socioeconomic status.
Chi values were positively correlated with PMA in the left caudate nucleus and left lentiform nucleus but were negatively correlated with PMA in the right caudate nucleus and in the bilateral thalamus, while GA was positively correlated with Chi values in the left thalamus (FDR-corrected P < 0.02 for all comparisons). IVH severity was positively correlated with Chi values in the left thalamus (ß = 0.0023, FDR-corrected P = 0.00738), however there were no significant correlations between Chi values and WMI or 18- and 36-month follow-up cognitive and motor scores. These results suggest hemisphere-dependent age-related changes in iron and myelin in DGM structures of preterm neonates and highlight the thalamus as a structure that may be particularly susceptible to oxidative stress and demyelination following IVH.