title: Structural Brain Connectivity in School-Age Preterm Infants Provides Evidence for Impaired Networks Relevant for Higher Order Cognitive Skills and Social Cognition.
abstract: Extreme prematurity and pregnancy conditions leading to intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) affect thousands of newborns every year and increase their risk for poor higher order cognitive and social skills at school age. However, little is known about the brain structural basis of these disabilities. To compare the structural integrity of neural circuits between prematurely born controls and children born extreme preterm (EP) or with IUGR at school age, long-ranging and short-ranging connections were noninvasively mapped across cortical hemispheres by connection matrices derived from diffusion tensor tractography. Brain connectivity was modeled along fiber bundles connecting 83 brain regions by a weighted characterization of structural connectivity (SC). EP and IUGR subjects, when compared with controls, had decreased fractional anisotropy-weighted SC (FAw-SC) of cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loop connections while cortico-cortical association connections showed both decreased and increased FAw-SC. FAw-SC strength of these connections was associated with poorer socio-cognitive performance in both EP and IUGR children.
authors.affiliation: Division of Development and Growth, Department of Pediatrics, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Signal Processing Laboratory 5 (LTS5), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Elda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fischi-Gómez
authors.affiliation: Division of Development and Growth, Department of Pediatrics, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vasung
authors.affiliation: Signal Processing Laboratory 5 (LTS5), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Djalel-Eddine
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Meskaldji
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Fançois
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lazeyras
authors.affiliation: Division of Development and Growth, Department of Pediatrics, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Borradori-Tolsa
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospital Center (CHUV) and University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Patric
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hagmann
authors.affiliation: Child Clinical Neuropsychology Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Koviljka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Barisnikov
authors.affiliation: Signal Processing Laboratory 5 (LTS5), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland Department of Radiology, University Hospital Center (CHUV) and University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Thiran
authors.affiliation: Division of Development and Growth, Department of Pediatrics, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Petra S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Hüppi
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: brain connectivity; connectomics; extreme prematurity; human brain development; intrauterine growth restriction; social cognition