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Reduced structural connectivity in cortico-striatal-thalamic network in neonates with congenital heart disease
Megan Ní Bhroin1, Samy Abo Seada2, Alexandra F Bonthrone2
1Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK; Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems Group, Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
Insights
Congenital heart disease (CHD) in newborns is linked to impaired brain development. A specific brain subnetwork shows reduced connectivity in infants with CHD before surgery, potentially explaining neurodevelopmental issues.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Newborns with congenital heart disease (CHD) exhibit impaired brain development.
- Understanding brain network alterations in infants with CHD is crucial for early intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess global brain network topology and identify subnetworks with altered connectivity in infants with CHD before cardiac surgery.
- To investigate structural connectivity differences between infants with CHD and healthy controls using advanced neuroimaging techniques.
Main Methods:
- Graph theoretical analyses and network-based statistics (NBS) were applied to structural brain networks derived from MRI and HARDI data.
- Multi-tissue constrained spherical deconvolution, ACT, and SIFT2 were used for network construction.
- Structural networks were analyzed for global topology and specific subnetwork alterations.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in global network characteristics were found between CHD infants and controls.
- NBS identified a specific subnetwork with reduced structural connectivity in CHD infants.
- This affected subnetwork involves the basal ganglia, amygdala, hippocampus, cerebellum, vermis, and temporal/parieto-occipital lobes, impacting core network nodes and edges.
Conclusions:
- Infants with critical/serious CHD show localized reductions in brain structural connectivity in specific subnetworks prior to surgery.
- These localized connectivity deficits, particularly in core network components, may underlie neurodevelopmental impairments observed in CHD.
- Further research is warranted to explore the long-term impact and potential therapeutic targets for these connectivity alterations.
Abstract:
Impaired brain development has been observed in newborns with congenital heart disease (CHD). We performed graph theoretical analyses and network-based statistics (NBS) to assess global brain network topology and identify subnetworks of altered connectivity in infants with CHD prior to cardiac surgery. Fifty-eight infants with critical/serious CHD prior to surgery and 116 matched healthy controls as part of the developing Human Connectome Project (dHCP) underwent MRI on a 3T system and high angular resolution diffusion MRI (HARDI) was obtained. Multi-tissue constrained spherical deconvolution, anatomically constrained probabilistic tractography (ACT) and spherical-deconvolution informed filtering of tractograms (SIFT2) was used to construct weighted structural networks. Network topology was assessed and NBS was used to identify structural connectivity differences between CHD and control groups. Structural networks were partitioned into core and peripheral nodes, and edges classed as core, peripheral, or feeder. NBS identified one subnetwork with reduced structural connectivity in CHD infants involving basal ganglia, amygdala, hippocampus, cerebellum, vermis, and temporal and parieto-occipital lobe, primarily affecting core nodes and edges. However, we did not find significantly different global network characteristics in CHD neonates. This locally affected sub-network with reduced connectivity could explain, at least in part, the neurodevelopmental impairments associated with CHD.
