scholarly journals Neonatal brain injury influences structural connectivity and childhood functional outcomes

PLoS ONE ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. e0262310
Author(s):  
Alice Ramirez ◽  
Shabnam Peyvandi ◽  
Stephany Cox ◽  
Dawn Gano ◽  
Duan Xu ◽  
...  

Neonatal brain injury may impact brain development and lead to lifelong functional impairments. Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and congenital heart disease (CHD) are two common causes of neonatal brain injury differing in timing and mechanism. Maturation of whole-brain neural networks can be quantified during development using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) in combination with graph theory metrics. DMRI of 35 subjects with CHD and 62 subjects with HIE were compared to understand differences in the effects of HIE and CHD on the development of network topological parameters and functional outcomes. CHD newborns had worse 12–18 month language (P<0.01) and 30 month cognitive (P<0.01), language (P = 0.05), motor outcomes (P = 0.01). Global efficiency, a metric of brain integration, was lower in CHD (P = 0.03) than in HIE, but transitivity, modularity and small-worldness were similar. After controlling for clinical factors known to affect neurodevelopmental outcomes, we observed that global efficiency was highly associated with 30 month motor outcomes (P = 0.02) in both groups. To explore neural correlates of adverse language outcomes in CHD, we used hypothesis-based and data-driven approaches to identify pathways with altered structural connectivity. We found that connectivity strength in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) tract 2 was inversely associated with expressive language. After false discovery rate correction, a whole connectome edge analysis identified 18 pathways that were hypoconnected in the CHD cohort as compared to HIE. In sum, our study shows that neonatal structural connectivity predicts early motor development after HIE or in subjects with CHD, and regional SLF connectivity is associated with language outcomes. Further research is needed to determine if and how brain networks change over time and whether those changes represent recovery or ongoing dysfunction. This knowledge will directly inform strategies to optimize neurologic functional outcomes after neonatal brain injury.

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 610-621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leona Pascoe ◽  
Shannon E. Scratch ◽  
Alice C. Burnett ◽  
Deanne K. Thompson ◽  
Katherine J. Lee ◽  
...  

AbstractNon-right handedness (NRH) is reportedly more common in very preterm (VPT; <32 weeks’ gestation) children compared with term-born peers, but it is unclear whether neonatal brain injury or altered brain morphology and microstructure underpins NRH in this population. Given that NRH has been inconsistently reported to be associated with cognitive and motor difficulties, this study aimed to examine associations between handedness and neurodevelopmental outcomes in VPT 7-year-olds. Furthermore, the relationship between neonatal brain injury and integrity of motor tracts (corpus callosum and corticospinal tract) with handedness at age 7 years in VPT children was explored. One hundred seventy-five VPT and 69 term-born children completed neuropsychological and motor assessments and a measure of handedness at 7 years’ corrected age. At term-equivalent age, brain injury on MRI was assessed and diffusion tensor measures were obtained for the corpus callosum and posterior limb of the internal capsule. There was little evidence of stronger NRH in the VPT group compared with term controls (regression coefficient [b] −1.95, 95% confidence interval [−5.67, 1.77]). Poorer academic and working memory outcomes were associated with stronger NRH in the VPT group. While there was little evidence that neonatal unilateral brain injury was associated with stronger NRH, increased area and fractional anisotropy of the corpus callosum splenium were predictive of stronger NRH in the VPT group. VPT birth may alter the relationship between handedness and academic outcomes, and neonatal corpus callosum integrity predicts hand preference in VPT children at school age. (JINS, 2015, 21, 610–621)


2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (02) ◽  
Author(s):  
U Felderhoff-Mueser ◽  
AM Kaindl ◽  
C Bührer ◽  
H Ikonomidou

2006 ◽  
Vol preprint (2008) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Zanardo ◽  
Stefania Vedovato ◽  
Agnese Suppiej ◽  
Daniele Trevisanuto ◽  
Mauro Migliore ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Rukhmani Narayanamurthy ◽  
Jung-Lynn Jonathan Yang ◽  
Jerome Y. Yager ◽  
Larry D. Unsworth

2011 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesar V Borlongan ◽  
Michael D Weiss

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 18018-18032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miki Mori ◽  
Keiichi Matsubara ◽  
Yuko Matsubara ◽  
Yuka Uchikura ◽  
Hisashi Hashimoto ◽  
...  

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