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Structural Brain Connectivity in School-Age Preterm Infants Provides Evidence for Impaired Networks Relevant for

Elda Fischi-Gómez1, Lana Vasung2, Djalel-Eddine Meskaldji3

  • 1Division of Development and Growth, Department of Pediatrics, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Signal Processing Laboratory 5 (LTS5), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.

Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
|May 6, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Extreme preterm birth and intrauterine growth restriction impact brain connectivity, affecting socio-cognitive skills in children. This study reveals altered neural circuit integrity linked to developmental challenges.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Biology
  • Medical Imaging

Background:

  • Extreme prematurity and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) are linked to later-life cognitive and social deficits.
  • The underlying brain structural basis for these neurodevelopmental challenges remains poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the structural integrity of neural circuits in children born extremely preterm (EP) or with IUGR versus typically developing controls at school age.
  • To investigate the relationship between brain connectivity patterns and socio-cognitive performance.

Main Methods:

  • Diffusion tensor tractography was used to map long- and short-ranging neural connections across cortical hemispheres.
  • Structural connectivity (SC) was modeled using fractional anisotropy-weighted SC (FAw-SC) between 83 brain regions.
  • Connection matrices characterized the weighted structural connectivity.

Main Results:

  • EP and IUGR children exhibited decreased FAw-SC in cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loop connections compared to controls.
  • Cortico-cortical association connections showed variable changes in FAw-SC (both increases and decreases).
  • The strength of FAw-SC in these connections correlated with poorer socio-cognitive outcomes in EP and IUGR groups.

Conclusions:

  • Altered structural brain connectivity, particularly in specific neural circuits, is associated with extreme prematurity and IUGR.
  • These connectivity differences may underlie the observed socio-cognitive impairments in affected children.
  • Noninvasive neuroimaging techniques can reveal critical insights into the neurobiological consequences of adverse birth conditions.

Keywords:
brain connectivityconnectomicsextreme prematurityhuman brain developmentintrauterine growth restrictionsocial cognition

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