Structural connectivity of the anterior cingulate in children with unilateral cerebral palsy due to white matter lesions

In this work we investigate the structural connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and its link with impaired executive function in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP) due to periventricular white matter lesions. Fifty two children with UCP and 17 children with typical developm...

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Main Authors: Simon M. Scheck, Kerstin Pannek, David A. Raffelt, Simona Fiori, Roslyn N. Boyd, Stephen E. Rose
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2015-01-01
Series:NeuroImage: Clinical
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158215001746
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spelling doaj-1a9353fcb0b842199bcb0324a15e91272020-11-24T21:54:16ZengElsevierNeuroImage: Clinical2213-15822015-01-019C49850510.1016/j.nicl.2015.09.014Structural connectivity of the anterior cingulate in children with unilateral cerebral palsy due to white matter lesionsSimon M. Scheck0Kerstin Pannek1David A. Raffelt2Simona Fiori3Roslyn N. Boyd4Stephen E. Rose5School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, AustraliaSchool of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, AustraliaFlorey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, Victoria, AustraliaDepartment of Developmental Neuroscience, Stella Maris Scientific Institute, Pisa, ItalyQueensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre, University of Queensland, Brisbane, AustraliaAustralian e-Health Research Centre, CSIRO, Brisbane, AustraliaIn this work we investigate the structural connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and its link with impaired executive function in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP) due to periventricular white matter lesions. Fifty two children with UCP and 17 children with typical development participated in the study, and underwent diffusion and structural MRI. Five brain regions were identified for their high connectivity with the ACC using diffusion MRI fibre tractography: the superior frontal gyrus, medial orbitofrontal cortex, rostral middle frontal gyrus, precuneus and isthmus cingulate. Structural connectivity was assessed in pathways connecting these regions to the ACC using three diffusion MRI derived measures: fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD) and apparent fibre density (AFD), and compared between participant groups. Furthermore we investigated correlations of these measures with executive function as assessed by the Flanker task. The ACC–precuneus tract had significantly different MD (p < 0.0001) and AFD (p = 0.0072) between groups, with post-hoc analysis showing significantly increased MD in the right hemisphere of children with left hemiparesis compared with controls. The ACC–superior frontal gyrus tract had significantly different FA (p = 0.0049) and MD (p = 0.0031) between groups. AFD in this tract (contralateral to side of hemiparesis; right hemisphere in controls) showed a significant relationship with Flanker task performance (p = 0.0045, β = −0.5856), suggesting that reduced connectivity correlates with executive dysfunction. Reduced structural integrity of ACC tracts appears to be important in UCP, in particular the connection to the superior frontal gyrus. Although damage to this area is heterogeneous it may be important in early identification of children with impaired executive function.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158215001746
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Simon M. Scheck
Kerstin Pannek
David A. Raffelt
Simona Fiori
Roslyn N. Boyd
Stephen E. Rose
spellingShingle Simon M. Scheck
Kerstin Pannek
David A. Raffelt
Simona Fiori
Roslyn N. Boyd
Stephen E. Rose
Structural connectivity of the anterior cingulate in children with unilateral cerebral palsy due to white matter lesions
NeuroImage: Clinical
author_facet Simon M. Scheck
Kerstin Pannek
David A. Raffelt
Simona Fiori
Roslyn N. Boyd
Stephen E. Rose
author_sort Simon M. Scheck
title Structural connectivity of the anterior cingulate in children with unilateral cerebral palsy due to white matter lesions
title_short Structural connectivity of the anterior cingulate in children with unilateral cerebral palsy due to white matter lesions
title_full Structural connectivity of the anterior cingulate in children with unilateral cerebral palsy due to white matter lesions
title_fullStr Structural connectivity of the anterior cingulate in children with unilateral cerebral palsy due to white matter lesions
title_full_unstemmed Structural connectivity of the anterior cingulate in children with unilateral cerebral palsy due to white matter lesions
title_sort structural connectivity of the anterior cingulate in children with unilateral cerebral palsy due to white matter lesions
publisher Elsevier
series NeuroImage: Clinical
issn 2213-1582
publishDate 2015-01-01
description In this work we investigate the structural connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and its link with impaired executive function in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP) due to periventricular white matter lesions. Fifty two children with UCP and 17 children with typical development participated in the study, and underwent diffusion and structural MRI. Five brain regions were identified for their high connectivity with the ACC using diffusion MRI fibre tractography: the superior frontal gyrus, medial orbitofrontal cortex, rostral middle frontal gyrus, precuneus and isthmus cingulate. Structural connectivity was assessed in pathways connecting these regions to the ACC using three diffusion MRI derived measures: fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD) and apparent fibre density (AFD), and compared between participant groups. Furthermore we investigated correlations of these measures with executive function as assessed by the Flanker task. The ACC–precuneus tract had significantly different MD (p < 0.0001) and AFD (p = 0.0072) between groups, with post-hoc analysis showing significantly increased MD in the right hemisphere of children with left hemiparesis compared with controls. The ACC–superior frontal gyrus tract had significantly different FA (p = 0.0049) and MD (p = 0.0031) between groups. AFD in this tract (contralateral to side of hemiparesis; right hemisphere in controls) showed a significant relationship with Flanker task performance (p = 0.0045, β = −0.5856), suggesting that reduced connectivity correlates with executive dysfunction. Reduced structural integrity of ACC tracts appears to be important in UCP, in particular the connection to the superior frontal gyrus. Although damage to this area is heterogeneous it may be important in early identification of children with impaired executive function.
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158215001746
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