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Deferm W, Tang T, Moerkerke M, Daniels N, Steyaert J, Alaerts K, Ortibus E, Naulaers G, Boets B. Subtle microstructural alterations in white matter tracts involved in socio-emotional processing after very preterm birth. Neuroimage Clin 2024; 41:103580. [PMID: 38401459 PMCID: PMC10944182 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2023] [Revised: 02/10/2024] [Accepted: 02/10/2024] [Indexed: 02/26/2024]
Abstract
Children born very preterm (VPT, < 32 weeks of gestation) have an increased risk of developing socio-emotional difficulties. Possible neural substrates for these socio-emotional difficulties are alterations in the structural connectivity of the social brain due to premature birth. The objective of the current study was to study microstructural white matter integrity in VPT versus full-term (FT) born school-aged children along twelve white matter tracts involved in socio-emotional processing. Diffusion MRI scans were obtained from a sample of 35 VPT and 38 FT 8-to-12-year-old children. Tractography was performed using TractSeg, a state-of-the-art neural network-based approach, which offers investigation of detailed tract profiles of fractional anisotropy (FA). Group differences in FA along the tracts were investigated using both a traditional and complementary functional data analysis approach. Exploratory correlations were performed between the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2), a parent-report questionnaire assessing difficulties in social functioning, and FA along the tract. Both analyses showed significant reductions in FA for the VPT group along the middle portion of the right SLF I and an anterior portion of the left SLF II. These group differences possibly indicate altered white matter maturation due to premature birth and may contribute to altered functional connectivity in the Theory of Mind network which has been documented in earlier work with VPT samples. Apart from reduced social motivation in the VPT group, there were no significant group differences in reported social functioning, as assessed by SRS-2. We found that in the VPT group higher FA values in segments of the left SLF I and right SLF II were associated with better social functioning. Surprisingly, the opposite was found for segments in the right IFO, where higher FA values were associated with worse reported social functioning. Since no significant correlations were found for the FT group, this relationship may be specific for VPT children. The current study overcomes methodological limitations of previous studies by more accurately segmenting white matter tracts using constrained spherical deconvolution based tractography, by applying complementary tractometry analysis approaches to estimate changes in FA more accurately, and by investigating the FA profile along the three components of the SLF.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ward Deferm
- Center for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Tiffany Tang
- Center for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | | | - Nicky Daniels
- Neuromotor Rehabilitation Research Group, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jean Steyaert
- Center for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Belgium; Child Psychiatry, UZ Leuven, Belgium
| | - Kaat Alaerts
- Neuromotor Rehabilitation Research Group, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | | | - Gunnar Naulaers
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit - Neonatology, UZ Leuven, Belgium; UZ Leuven & Center for Developmental Disorders, Belgium
| | - Bart Boets
- Center for Developmental Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Belgium
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Hosoki M, Eidsness MA, Bruckert L, Travis KE, Feldman HM. Associations of behavioral problems with white matter circuits connecting to the frontal lobes in school-aged children born at term and preterm. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2023:2023.11.08.23298268. [PMID: 37986772 PMCID: PMC10659456 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.08.23298268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
Introduction This study investigated whether behavioral problems in children were associated with fractional anisotropy (FA) of white matter tracts connecting from other brain regions to right and left frontal lobes. We considered internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems separately and contrasted patterns of associations in children born at term and very preterm. Methods Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist/6-18 questionnaire to quantify behavioral problems when their children were age 8 years (N=36 FT and 37 PT). Diffusion magnetic resonance scans were collected at the same age and analyzed using probabilistic tractography. We used multiple linear regression to investigate the strength of association between age-adjusted T-scores of internalizing and externalizing problems and mean fractional anisotropy (mean-FA) of right and left uncinate, arcuate, and anterior thalamic radiations, controlling for birth group and sex. Results Regression models predicting internalizing T-scores from mean-FA found significant group-by-tract interactions for the left and right arcuate and right uncinate. Internalizing scores were negatively associated with mean-FA of left and right arcuate only in children born at term (pleft AF =0.01, pright AF =0.01). Regression models predicting externalizing T-scores from mean-FA found significant group-by-tract interactions for the left arcuate and right uncinate. Externalizing scores were negatively associated with mean-FA of right uncinate in children born at term (pright UF =0.01) and positively associated in children born preterm (pright UF preterm =0.01). Other models were not significant. Conclusions In this sample of children with scores for behavioral problems across the full range, internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems were negatively associated with mean-FA of white matter tracts connecting to frontal lobes in children born at term; externalizing behavioral problems were positively associated with mean-FA of the right uncinate in children born preterm. The different associations by birth group suggest that the neurobiology of behavioral problems differs in the two birth groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Machiko Hosoki
- Corresponding Author: Machiko Hosoki, Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 3145 Porter Drive, MC 5395, Palo Alto, CA 94304,
| | - Margarita Alethea Eidsness
- Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine
| | | | - Katherine E. Travis
- Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine
| | - Heidi M Feldman
- Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine
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Siffredi V, Liverani MC, Van De Ville D, Freitas LGA, Borradori Tolsa C, Hüppi PS, Ha-Vinh Leuchter R. Corpus callosum structural characteristics in very preterm children and adolescents: Developmental trajectory and relationship to cognitive functioning. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2023; 60:101211. [PMID: 36780739 PMCID: PMC9925611 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Revised: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/04/2023] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Previous studies suggest that structural alteration of the corpus callosum, i.e., the largest white matter commissural pathway, occurs after a preterm birth in the neonatal period and lasts across development. The present study aims to unravel corpus callosum structural characteristics across childhood and adolescence in very preterm (VPT) individuals, and their associations with general intellectual, executive and socio-emotional functioning. Neuropsychological assessments, T1-weighted and multi-shell diffusion MRI were collected in 79 VPT and 46 full term controls aged 6-14 years. Volumetric, diffusion tensor and neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) measures were extracted on 7 callosal portions using TractSeg. A multivariate data-driven approach (partial least squares correlation) and a cohort-based age normative modelling approach were used to explore associations between callosal characteristics and neuropsychological outcomes. The VPT and a full-term control groups showed similar trends of white-matter maturation over time, i.e., increase FA and reduced ODI, in all callosal segments, that was associated with increase in general intellectual functioning. However, using a cohort-based age-related normative modelling, findings show atypical pattern of callosal development in the VPT group, with reduced callosal maturation over time that was associated with poorer general intellectual and working memory functioning, as well as with lower gestational age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa Siffredi
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Paediatrics, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland; Neuro-X Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Maria Chiara Liverani
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Paediatrics, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland; SensoriMotor, Affective and Social Development Laboratory, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Dimitri Van De Ville
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Paediatrics, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland; Neuro-X Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Lorena G A Freitas
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Paediatrics, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland; Neuro-X Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Cristina Borradori Tolsa
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Paediatrics, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Petra Susan Hüppi
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Paediatrics, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Russia Ha-Vinh Leuchter
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Paediatrics, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
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Unraveling White Matter and Psychopathology After Preterm Birth. Biol Psychiatry 2023; 93:e13-e14. [PMID: 36792304 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2023.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2022] [Revised: 01/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023]
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