title: Relation of callosal structure to cognitive abilities in temporal lobe epilepsy.
abstract: The main objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) on the morphology of the corpus callosum (CC) and its relation to cognitive abilities. More specifically, we investigated correlations between intellectual abilities and callosal morphology, while additionally exploring the modulating impact of (a) side of seizure onset (b) age of disease onset. For this reason a large representative sample of patients with hippocampal sclerosis (n = 79; 35 males; 44 females; age: 18-63 years) with disease onset ranging from 0 to 50 years of age, and consisting of 46 left and 33 right mTLE-patients was recruited. Intelligence was measured using the Wechsler-Adult Intelligence Scale Revised. To get localizations of correlations with high anatomic precision, callosal morphology was examined using computational mesh-based modeling methods, applied to anatomical brain MRI scans. Intellectual performance was positively associated with callosal thickness in anterior and midcallosal callosal regions, with anterior parts being slightly more affected by age of disease onset and side of seizure onset than posterior parts. Earlier age at onset of epilepsy was associated with lower thickness in anterior and midcallosal regions. In addition, laterality of seizure onset had a significant influence on anterior CC morphology, with left hemispheric origin having stronger effects. We found that in mTLE, anterior and midcallosal CC morphology are related to cognitive performance. The findings support recent findings of detrimental effects of early onset mTLE on anterior brain regions and of a distinct effect particularly of left mTLE on frontal lobe functioning and structure. The causal nature of the relationship remains an open question, i.e., whether CC morphology impacts IQ development or whether IQ development impacts CC morphology, or both.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Bonn , Bonn , Germany.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Department of Epileptology, University Hospital Bonn , Bonn , Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Helmstaedter
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine , Los Angeles, CA , USA.
authors.forename: Eileen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Luders
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine , Los Angeles, CA , USA.
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine , Los Angeles, CA , USA.
authors.forename: Arthur W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Toga
authors.affiliation: Department of Epileptology, University Hospital Bonn , Bonn , Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Elger
authors.affiliation: Department of Epileptology, University Hospital Bonn , Bonn , Germany.
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weber
keywords: MRI; Wechsler-adult intelligence scale revised; corpus callosum; full-scale IQ; intelligence; temporal lobe epilepsy