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Pediatric Moderate-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury and Gray Matter Structural Covariance Networks: A Preliminary
Carola Tuerk1, Fanny Dégeilh2,3, Cathy Catroppa4,5
1Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada, carola.beatrice.tuerk@umontreal.ca.
Insights
Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) alters brain network architecture long-term. Children with TBI showed reduced structural covariance in key brain networks, unlike typical development.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) can disrupt brain maturation, with long-term effects on network architecture poorly understood.
- Structural covariance networks (SCN) offer insights into brain topology by analyzing anatomical correlations.
- Understanding TBI's impact on developing brain networks is crucial for long-term outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate long-term changes in structural covariance networks (SCN) following pediatric moderate-severe TBI.
- To compare SCN in pediatric TBI survivors and typically developing children at sub-acute and long-term follow-up.
- To explore the relationship between injury severity and brain structure in affected networks.
Main Methods:
- Compared SCN in pediatric TBI (n=16) and control (n=15) groups at <90 days and 12-24 months post-injury.
- Extracted gray matter volumes from seed regions (DMN: rAG, CEN: rDLPFC, SN: rAI) using T1-weighted MRI.
- Analyzed structural covariance within default-mode network (DMN), central executive network (CEN), and salience network (SN).
Main Results:
- No significant group differences in SCN were observed sub-acutely.
- Long-term, the TBI group exhibited reduced SCN within the DMN (seeded from rAG) and CEN (seeded from rDLPFC).
- Injury severity positively correlated with gray matter volumes in affected CEN regions.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric TBI has a long-term effect on structural covariance networks, impacting brain topology.
- SCN may serve as a valuable tool to assess the global effects of TBI on the developing brain.
- Further research is needed to link SCN disruptions to behavioral and cognitive deficits.
Abstract:
Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) is prevalent and can disrupt ongoing brain maturation. However, the long-term consequences of pediatric TBI on the brain's network architecture are poorly understood. Structural covariance networks (SCN), based on anatomical correlations between brain regions, may provide important insights into brain topology following TBI. Changes in global SCN (default-mode network [DMN], central executive network [CEN], and salience network [SN]) were compared sub-acutely (<90 days) and in the long-term (approximately 12-24 months) after pediatric moderate-severe TBI (n = 16), and compared to typically developing children assessed concurrently (n = 15). Gray matter (GM) volumes from selected seeds (DMN: right angular gyrus [rAG], CEN: right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex [rDLPFC], SN: right anterior insula) were extracted from T1-weighted images at both timepoints. No group differences were found sub-acutely; at the second timepoint, the TBI group showed significantly reduced structural covariance within the DMN seeded from the rAG and the (1) right middle frontal gyrus, (2) left superior frontal gyrus, and (3) left fusiform gyrus. Reduced structural covariance was also found within the CEN, that is, between the rDLPFC and the (1) calcarine sulcus, and (2) right occipital gyrus. In addition, injury severity was positively associated with GM volumes in the identified CEN regions. Over time, there were no significant changes in SCN in either group. The findings, albeit preliminary, suggest for the first time a long-term effect of pediatric TBI on SCN. SCN may be a complementary approach to characterize the global effect of TBI on the developing brain. Future work needs to further examine how disruptions of these networks relate to behavioral and cognitive difficulties.
