Altered degree centrality and functional connectivity in girls with central precocious puberty

Girls who suffer from central precocious puberty (CPP) are at risk of experiencing detrimental psychological and behavioural consequences, along with impaired brain development. However, the mechanism by which puberty hormones affect patients with CPP remains unclear. This study aimed to use degree centrality (DC) analysis to explore the impact of premature activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis on brain functional development in girls with CPP. In this cross-sectional study, thirty-four girls (mean ± SD, 7.89 ± 0.81 years) with CPP and 25 age-matched girls without CPP (mean ± SD, 7.58 ± 0.73 years) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We used DC analysis to explore brain network properties in CPP girls compared to non-CPP girls. Seed-based FC analysis was performed to identify the connections responsible for the observed differences. Our findings showed that female CPP patients had increased DC in the posterior lobe of the cerebellum and prefrontal areas and increased functional connectivity (FC) between the posterior lobe of the cerebellum and default mode network (DMN) regions relative to age-matched non-CPP girls. Additionally, compared with non-CPP patients, female CPP patients exhibited decreased DC in the bilateral superior parietal gyri and left superior occipital gyrus and reduced FC between the left superior occipital gyrus and right calcarine. A negative correlation was found between basal follicle-stimulating hormone level and DC of the bilateral superior parietal gyri in girls with CPP. The current research provides evidence that premature activation of the HPG axis is associated with the development of cortical function, particularly involving the posterior lobe of the cerebellum, DMN, and prefrontal, parietal, and occipital cortices. Our findings suggest that girls with CPP require attention and early treatment for cognitive and emotional problems as well as brain development in clinical practice.