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Abnormal Functional Network Topology and Its Dynamics during Sustained Attention Processing Significantly Implicate
Meng Cao1, Jeffery M Halperin2, Xiaobo Li1
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA.
Insights
Children with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) show altered brain network dynamics, particularly in the left parietal lobe, impacting sustained attention. These network anomalies are linked to inattentive symptoms, suggesting a key role in attention deficits post-TBI.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Pediatric Neurology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is common in children, often leading to persistent attention deficits.
- These attention deficits significantly impact cognitive function and behavioral outcomes in pediatric populations.
- Understanding the neural underpinnings of these deficits is crucial for developing effective interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the topological properties and dynamics of functional brain networks during sustained attention in children with severe TBI and attention deficits (TBI-A).
- To compare these network characteristics between children with TBI-A and healthy controls.
- To explore the association between network anomalies and inattentive symptoms in children with TBI-A.
Main Methods:
- Functional MRI (fMRI) data were collected during a sustained attention task in 42 children with TBI-A and 47 healthy controls.
- Task-related functional brain networks were constructed using graph theory.
- Sliding-window analysis assessed the dynamics of network topological properties across different task stages (pre-, early, late, post-stimulation).
Main Results:
- Children with TBI-A exhibited reduced nodal efficiency and/or degree in specific left-hemisphere brain regions (postcentral, inferior parietal, inferior temporal, fusiform gyri).
- These regions showed decreased network stability during the early and late stimulation stages compared to controls.
- Anomalies in the left postcentral-inferior parietal network were significantly correlated with increased inattentive symptoms.
Conclusions:
- Abnormal functional network characteristics and dynamics, particularly involving the left parietal lobe, are associated with severe attention deficits in children post-TBI.
- These findings highlight the critical role of the left parietal functional network in the pathophysiology of pediatric TBI-related attention deficits.
- Targeting these network abnormalities may offer potential therapeutic avenues for improving attention in affected children.
Abstract:
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is highly prevalent in children. Attention deficits are among the most common and persistent post-TBI cognitive and behavioral sequalae that can contribute to adverse outcomes. This study investigated the topological properties of the functional brain network for sustained attention processing and their dynamics in 42 children with severe post-TBI attention deficits (TBI-A) and 47 matched healthy controls. Functional MRI data during a block-designed sustained attention task was collected for each subject, with each full task block further divided into the pre-, early, late-, and post-stimulation stages. The task-related functional brain network was constructed using the graph theoretic technique. Then, the sliding-window-based method was utilized to assess the dynamics of the topological properties in each stimulation stage. Relative to the controls, the TBI-A group had significantly reduced nodal efficiency and/or degree of left postcentral, inferior parietal, inferior temporal, and fusiform gyri and their decreased stability during the early and late-stimulation stages. The left postcentral inferior parietal network anomalies were found to be significantly associated with elevated inattentive symptoms in children with TBI-A. These results suggest that abnormal functional network characteristics and their dynamics associated with the left parietal lobe may significantly link to the onset of the severe post-TBI attention deficits in children.
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