Altered caudate connectivity is associated with executive dysfunction after traumatic brain injury

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neurology
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• Traumatic brain injury (TBI) frequently leads to executive dysfunction, impacting behavior and personality.
• Frontal lobe injuries are linked to executive dysfunction, but the role of corticostriatal interactions remains unclear.
• Understanding corticostriatal network alterations is crucial for addressing TBI-related cognitive impairments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between executive dysfunction after TBI and abnormal corticostriatal interactions.
• To compare functional and structural corticostriatal connectivity in TBI patients versus healthy controls.

Main Methods:

• Utilized structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for connectivity analysis.
• Employed constrained independent component analysis (ICA) on Human Connectome Project data to define healthy corticostriatal connectivity.
• Performed diffusion tractography and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to assess white matter integrity.

Main Results:

• TBI patients exhibited disrupted functional connectivity between the caudate nucleus and cortical regions, including the anterior cingulate cortex.
• Reduced right caudate connectivity correlated with increased executive dysfunction, slower information processing speed, and memory deficits.
• Impaired structural connectivity between the caudate and anterior cingulate cortex was observed and linked to executive dysfunction.

Conclusions:

• Altered subcortical connectivity, particularly involving the caudate nucleus, is associated with large-scale network disruption in TBI.
• These connectivity abnormalities correlate with the specific cognitive impairments, such as executive dysfunction, observed in TBI patients.
• Findings highlight the role of corticostriatal pathways in TBI-related cognitive deficits and suggest potential targets for intervention.