Intrinsic gestational timing governs human cerebellar development after preterm birth.

Prematurity diverts the human cerebellum’s developmental trajectory, with cerebellar growth and functional outcomes scaling with gestational age despite perinatal exposure differences.

• Why it matters: It is unclear which intrinsic maturation programs are perturbed by preterm birth and which molecular pathways underlie the resulting developmental divergence.
• What they did: The study integrated in vivo neuroimaging and neurodevelopmental outcomes with postmortem spatial transcriptomics and histopathology to map gestational-age–linked programs.
• The result: Developmental programs were linked to incomplete granule cell maturation and impaired Purkinje cell structural refinement, indicating lineage-specific asynchrony and biologically displaced maturation at equivalent postmenstrual age.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.