Nutritional supplement induced modulations in the functional connectivity of a porcine brain

In this study, we sought to further understand how nutritional supplements influence specific brain function and architecture as well as cognitive and behavioral performance. Specifically, we aimed to identify modifications in functional connectivity (FC) patterns and targeted brain anatomies in piglets following perinatal intake of different nutritional diets using a graph theory based approach where we introduced the use of differential degree test (DDT) to identify differentially connected edges (DCEs). In simulations, the DDT showed a greater accuracy in detecting DCEs when compared with the permutation test and also demonstrated egg yolk (EGG), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and DHA + EGG supplemented diets led to an improved internodal connectivity in the developing piglet brain. Read more about this study at PubMed®.