Chaotic analysis approach in neonatal magneto-encephalography.

The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of any non-linearity in the magneto-encephalographic recordings (MEG) in neonates born to pre-eclamptic mothers in comparison with the ones born to mothers having uncomplicated pregnancies, in order to find out differences in the mechanisms underlying their brain waves. Our study population consisted of 40 term neonates who were delivered normally, without any clinical signs of brain damage. Thirty of them had a normal pregnancy and labour with normal Apgar scores, umbilical cord pH, and birth weight, while 10 neonates had suffered a pre-eclamptic pregnancy. The above analysis of the MEG in the neonatal pre-eclamptic brain showed a lower dimension complexity as compared with the normal neonatal brain and a lower first Lyapunov exponent which means lower information processing. The non-linear analysis of the MEG activities in neonates may offer important perspectives to understand significant features of their brain function.