title: Developmental synergy between thalamic structure and interhemispheric connectivity in the visual system of preterm infants.
abstract: Thalamic structural co-variation with cortical regions has been demonstrated in preterm infants, but its relationship to cortical function and severity of non-cystic white matter injury (non-cystic WMI) is unclear. The relationship between thalamic morphology and both cortical network synchronization and cortical structural connectivity has not been established. We tested the hypothesis that in preterm neonates, thalamic volume would correlate with primary cortical visual function and microstructural integrity of cortico-cortical visual association pathways. A total of 80 term-equivalent preterm and 44 term-born infants underwent high-resolution structural imaging coupled with visual functional magnetic resonance imaging or diffusion tensor imaging. There was a strong correlation between thalamic volume and primary visual cortical activation in preterms with non-cystic WMI (r = 0.81, p-value = 0.001). Thalamic volume also correlated strongly with interhemispheric cortico-cortical connectivity (splenium) in preterm neonates with a relatively higher severity of non-cystic WMI (p-value < 0.001). In contrast, there was lower correlation between thalamic volume and intrahemispheric cortico-cortical connectivity, including the inferior longitudinal fasciculus and inferior frontal orbital fasciculus. This study shows distinct temporal overlap in the disruption of thalamo-cortical and interhemispheric cortico-cortical connectivity in preterm infants suggesting developmental synergy between thalamic morphology and the emergence of cortical networks in the last trimester.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Radiology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, PA, USA ; Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ceschin
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, CA, USA ; Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA ; Department of Pediatric Radiology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Wisnowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Paquette
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Marvin D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Blüml
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, CA, USA ; Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA ; Department of Pediatric Radiology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, PA, USA ; Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Ashok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Panigrahy
mesh_terms: D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D063132:Connectome; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000503:physiopathology*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007232:Infant, Newborn, Diseases / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D066127:White Matter / Q000293:injuries*
keywords: Functional MR; Preterm birth; Probabilistic tractography; Thalamus; Visuocognitive