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A Standardized Pipeline for Examining Human Cerebellar Grey Matter Morphometry using Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: February 4, 2022
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Examination of Cerebellar Grey-Matter Volume in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders: a Coordinated Analysis
Lara Fernandez1,2, Alex Burmester3, Juan Dominguez Duque3
1Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, 3220, Australia. Lara.Fernandez@monash.edu.
Cerebellum (London, England)
|December 9, 2022
Summary
Children with ADHD showed reduced cerebellar grey matter volume in left Crus I, but this finding was not significant after accounting for medication. No significant cerebellar differences were found in autism spectrum disorder or developmental coordination disorder.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Pediatric Neurology
Background:
- Cerebellar morphology alterations are noted in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and developmental coordination disorder (DCD).
- It remains unclear if specific cerebellar regions are commonly affected across these neurodevelopmental disorders or if changes indicate general developmental issues versus disorder-specific traits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if common cerebellar regions are affected in children with ASD, ADHD, and DCD compared to controls.
- To determine if observed cerebellar morphological changes represent a general developmental vulnerability or disorder-specific characteristics.
Main Methods:
- Utilized anatomical MRI scans from 252 children (ages 7-12) across five cohorts (ASD=58, ADHD=86, DCD=22, Controls=86).
- Applied the ACAPULCO pipeline for cerebellar segmentation on T1-weighted images.
- Employed a voxel-wise general linear model to compare grey-matter volume of 27 cerebellar lobules between clinical groups and controls.
Main Results:
- The ADHD group exhibited significantly lower grey-matter volume in the left Crus I compared to controls (p=0.02).
- This difference in ADHD was no longer significant after controlling for medication status.
- No significant differences in cerebellar lobule volume were detected in the ASD or DCD groups relative to controls.
Conclusions:
- Cerebellar morphological differences in children with ADHD, ASD, and DCD are not consistently observed across all lobules.
- The initial finding of reduced grey matter in left Crus I for ADHD warrants further investigation, particularly regarding medication effects.
- Future research should harmonize behavioral data for advanced analyses to identify symptom clusters across neurodevelopmental disorders.
