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Altered white matter integrity in adolescents with prelingual deafness: a high-resolution tract-based spatial
1State Key Laboratory of Management and Control for Complex Systems, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
AJNR. American Journal of Neuroradiology
|January 1, 2013
Summary
Prelingual deafness in adolescents causes significant white matter changes in auditory brain regions, larger than in adults. These alterations suggest developmental impairments due to hearing loss before language acquisition.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Prelingual deafness, occurring before language acquisition, can lead to brain structural changes.
- The developing adolescent brain may exhibit greater vulnerability and plasticity in response to sensory deprivation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate microstructural white matter alterations in prelingually deaf adolescents using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).
- To test the hypothesis that morphologic changes are concentrated in auditory association areas.
- To compare the extent of these alterations with those found in adult deafness.
Main Methods:
- Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed on 16 prelingually deaf adolescents and 16 age- and sex-matched controls.
- Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) were used to compare fractional anisotropy (FA) and radial diffusivity (RD) between groups.
- Correlations between structural changes and duration of sign language use/hearing aid experience were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Prelingually deaf adolescents showed significantly reduced FA and increased RD in bilateral superior temporal gyri, Heschl gyrus, planum polare, and splenium of the corpus callosum.
- Increased RD in the right superior temporal gyrus negatively correlated with sign language duration.
- Observed alterations were more extensive than those previously reported in adult deafness.
Conclusions:
- Significant morphologic changes (decreased FA, increased RD) were confirmed in auditory association areas and the corpus callosum.
- These findings indicate developmental impairments in prelingually deaf adolescents.
- The changes likely reflect axonal loss or impaired myelination in response to early-onset hearing loss.
