Dataset Information

Alterations in neural connectivity in preterm children at school age.

ABSTRACT: Converging data suggest recovery from injury in the preterm brain. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test the hypothesis that cerebral connectivity involving Wernicke's area and other important cortical language regions would differ between preterm (PT) and term (T) control school age children during performance of an auditory language task. Fifty-four PT children (600-1250 g birth weight) and 24 T controls were evaluated using an fMRI passive language task and neurodevelopmental assessments including: the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - III (WISC-III), the Peabody Individual Achievement Test - Revised (PIAT-R) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - Revised (PPVT-R) at 8 years of age. Neural activity was assessed for language processing and the data were evaluated for connectivity and correlations to cognitive outcomes. We found that PT subjects scored significantly lower on all components of the WISC-III (p<0.009), the PIAT-R Reading Comprehension test (p=0.013), and the PPVT-R (p=0.001) compared to term subjects. Connectivity analyses revealed significantly stronger neural circuits in PT children between Wernicke's area and the right inferior frontal gyrus (R IFG, Broca's area homologue) and both the left and the right supramarginal gyri (SMG) components of the inferior parietal lobules (p

SUBMITTER: Gozzo Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2775072 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Alterations in neural connectivity in preterm children at school age.

Gozzo Yeisid Y Vohr Betty B Lacadie Cheryl C Hampson Michelle M Katz Karol H KH Maller-Kesselman Jill J Schneider Karen C KC Peterson Bradley S BS Rajeevan Nallakkandi N Makuch Robert W RW Constable R Todd RT Ment Laura R LR

NeuroImage 20090625 2

Converging data suggest recovery from injury in the preterm brain. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test the hypothesis that cerebral connectivity involving Wernicke's area and other important cortical language regions would differ between preterm (PT) and term (T) control school age children during performance of an auditory language task. Fifty-four PT children (600-1250 g birth weight) and 24 T controls were evaluated using an fMRI passive language task and neurodevelop ...[more]

PMID: 19560547

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Project description:Very low birth weight preterm (PT) children are at high risk for brain injury. Employing diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), we tested the hypothesis that PT adolescents would demonstrate microstructural white matter disorganization relative to term controls at 16 years of age. Forty-four PT subjects (600-1250 g birth weight) without neonatal brain injury and 41 term controls were evaluated at age 16 years with DTI, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC), the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT), and the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP). PT subjects scored lower than term subjects on WISC full scale (p=0.003), verbal (p=0.043), and performance IQ tests (p=0.001), as well as CTOPP phonological awareness (p=0.004), but scored comparably to term subjects on PPVT and CTOPP Rapid Naming tests. PT subjects had lower fractional anisotropy (FA) values in multiple regions including bilateral uncinate fasciculi (left: p=0.01; right: p=0.004), bilateral external capsules (left: p<0.001; right: p<0.001), the splenium of the corpus callosum (p=0.008), and white matter serving the inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally (left: p<0.001; right: p=0.011). FA values in both the left and right uncinate fasciculi correlated with PPVT scores (a semantic language task) in the PT subjects (left: r=0.314, p=0.038; right: r=0.336, p=0.026). FA values in the left and right arcuate fasciculi correlated with CTOPP Rapid Naming scores (a phonologic task) in the PT subjects (left: r=0.424, p=0.004; right: r=0.301, p=0.047). These data support for the first time that dual pathways underlying language function are present in PT adolescents. The striking bilateral dorsal correlations for the PT group suggest that prematurely born subjects rely more heavily on the right hemisphere than typically developing adults for performance of phonological language tasks. These findings may represent either a delay in maturation or the engagement of alternative neural pathways for language in the developing PT brain.

Project description:Preterm birth (gestational age?<?37 weeks) with very low birth weight (VLBW, birth weight???1500?g) is associated with lifelong cognitive deficits, including in executive function, and persistent alterations in cortical and subcortical structures. However, it remains unclear whether "catch-up" growth is possible in the preterm/VLBW brain. Longitudinal structural MRI was conducted with children born preterm with VLBW (n?=?41) and term-born peers participating in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) (n?=?128) at two timepoints in early school age (mean ages 8.0 and 9.3 years). Images were analyzed with the FreeSurfer 5.3.0 longitudinal stream to assess differences in development of cortical thickness, surface area, and brain structure volumes, as well as associations with executive function development (NEPSY Statue and WMS-III Spatial Span scores) and perinatal health markers. No longitudinal group?×?time effects in cortical thickness, surface area, or subcortical volumes were seen, indicating similar brain growth trajectories in the groups over an approximately 16-month period in middle childhood. Higher IQ scores within the VLBW group were associated with greater surface area in left parieto-occipital and inferior temporal regions. Among VLBW preterm-born children, cortical surface area was smaller across the cortical mantle, and cortical thickness was thicker occipitally and frontally and thinner in lateral parietal and posterior temporal areas. Smaller volumes of corpus callosum, right globus pallidus, and right thalamus persisted in the VLBW group from timepoint 1 to 2. VLBW children had on average IQ 1?SD below term-born MoBa peers and significantly worse scores on WMS-III Spatial Span. Executive function scores did not show differential associations with morphometry between groups cross-sectionally or longitudinally. This study investigated divergent or "catch-up" growth in terms of cortical thickness, surface area, and volumes of subcortical gray matter structures and corpus callosum in children born preterm/VLBW and did not find group?×?time interactions. Greater surface area at mean age 9.3 in left parieto-occipital and inferior temporal cortex was associated with higher IQ in the VLBW group. These results suggest that preterm VLBW children may have altered cognitive networks, yet have structural growth trajectories that appear generally similar to their term-born peers in this early school age window.

Dataset Information

Alterations in neural connectivity in preterm children at school age.

Publications

Alterations in neural connectivity in preterm children at school age.

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