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Quinones JF, Hildebrandt A, Pavan T, Thiel CM, Heep A. Preterm birth and neonatal white matter microstructure in in-vivo reconstructed fiber tracts among audiovisual integration brain regions. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2023; 60:101202. [PMID: 36731359 PMCID: PMC9894786 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2022] [Revised: 01/02/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2023] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Individuals born preterm are at risk of developing a variety of sequelae. Audiovisual integration (AVI) has received little attention despite its facilitating role in the development of socio-cognitive abilities. The present study assessed the association between prematurity and in-vivo reconstructed fiber bundles among brain regions relevant for AVI. We retrieved data from 63 preterm neonates enrolled in the Developing Human Connectome Project (http://www.developingconnectome.org/) and matched them with 63 term-born neonates from the same study by means of propensity score matching. We performed probabilistic tractography, DTI and NODDI analysis on the traced fibers. We found that specific DTI and NODDI metrics are significantly associated with prematurity in neonates matched for postmenstrual age at scan. We investigated the spatial overlap and developmental order of the reconstructed tractograms between preterm and full-term neonates. Permutation-based analysis revealed significant differences in dice similarity coefficients and developmental order between preterm and full term neonates at the group level. Contrarily, no group differences in the amount of interindividual variability of DTI and NODDI metrics were observed. We conclude that microstructural detriment in the reconstructed fiber bundles along with developmental and morphological differences are likely to contribute to disadvantages in AVI in preterm individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan F. Quinones
- Psychological Methods and Statistics, Department of Psychology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany,Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany,Correspondence to: Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Department of Psychology, Ammerländer Heerstr., 114-11, 826129 Oldenburg, Germany.
| | - Andrea Hildebrandt
- Psychological Methods and Statistics, Department of Psychology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany,Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany,Research Center Neurosensory Science, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany,Correspondence to: Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Department of Psychology, Ammerländer Heerstr., 114-11, 826129 Oldenburg, Germany.
| | - Tommaso Pavan
- Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Christiane M. Thiel
- Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany,Research Center Neurosensory Science, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany,Biological Psychology, Department of Psychology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Axel Heep
- Research Center Neurosensory Science, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany,Klinik für Neonatologie, Intensivmedizin und Kinderkardiologie, Oldenburg, Germany
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Alexopoulos J, Giordano V, Doering S, Seidl R, Benavides-Varela S, Russwurm M, Greenwood S, Berger A, Bartha-Doering L. Sex differences in neural processing of speech in neonates. Cortex 2022; 157:117-128. [PMID: 36279755 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2022] [Revised: 05/24/2022] [Accepted: 09/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The large majority of studies shows that girls develop their language skills faster than boys in the first few years of life. Are girls born with this advantage in language development? The present study used fNIRS in neonates to investigate sex differences in neural processing of speech within the first days of life. We found that speech stimuli elicited significantly more brain activity than non-speech stimuli in both groups of male and female neonates. However, whereas girls showed significant HbO changes to speech stimuli only within the left hemisphere, boys exhibited simultaneous neural activations in both hemispheres, with a larger and more significant fronto-temporal cluster in the right hemisphere. Furthermore, in boys, the variation in time-to-peak latencies was considerably greater than in girls. These findings suggest an earlier maturation of language-related brain areas in girls and highlight the importance of sex-specific investigations of neural language networks in infants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johanna Alexopoulos
- Department of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Vito Giordano
- Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Stephan Doering
- Department of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Rainer Seidl
- Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Silvia Benavides-Varela
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization & Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Magdalena Russwurm
- Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Stephanie Greenwood
- Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Angelika Berger
- Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Lisa Bartha-Doering
- Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
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