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Early life brain network connectivity antecedents of executive function in children born preterm

Abiot Y Derbie1, Mekibib Altaye2,3, Junqi Wang4

  • 1Neurodevelopmental Disorders Prevention Center, Perinatal Institute, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.

Communications Biology
|March 2, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Preterm birth impacts executive function (EF) due to altered brain connectivity. More efficient structural pathways in the insula and key integration hubs are linked to better EF outcomes in preterm infants.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Pediatrics
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Preterm birth (gestation ≤ 32 weeks) is a significant risk factor for executive function (EF) deficits.
  • The neural underpinnings of these EF deficits in preterm infants remain incompletely understood.
  • Understanding brain connectivity at term-equivalent age (TEA) is crucial for predicting later cognitive outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between structural connectivity (SC) and functional connectivity (FC) at TEA and EF performance at 3 years corrected age in preterm infants.
  • To elucidate the neural mechanisms linking brain development after preterm birth to cognitive function.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized diffusion MRI and resting-state functional MRI in preterm infants at TEA.
  • Applied graph theory analyses to quantify SC and FC network properties.
  • Correlated network metrics with EF outcomes assessed at 3 years corrected age.

Main Results:

  • Shorter average path length in the insula (enhanced structural communication) was associated with better EF.
  • Higher betweenness centrality in parietal and superior temporal regions (key integration hubs) correlated with improved EF.
  • Multimodal analyses demonstrated that SC efficiency influences FC organization, highlighting white matter's role in shaping functional hubs.

Conclusions:

  • Structural brain efficiency, particularly in the insula, plays a critical role in supporting executive functions in children born preterm.
  • Disruptions in early structural connectivity can alter subsequent functional connectivity patterns crucial for EF development.
  • Node-level network metrics provide precise insights into how SC guides FC relationships essential for cognitive outcomes.

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