title: Altered functional connectivity in persistent developmental stuttering.
abstract: Persistent developmental stuttering (PDS) is a speech disorder that impairs communication skills. Despite extensive research, the core causes of PDS are elusive. Converging evidence from task-induced neuroimaging methods has demonstrated the contributions of the basal ganglia and the cerebellum to PDS, but such task-state neuroimaging findings are often confounded by behavioral performance differences between subjects who stutter and normal controls. Here, using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated functional connectivity within cerebellar-cortical and basal ganglia-thalamocortical networks in 16 adults who stutter and 18 age-matched fluent speakers. Seed-to-voxel analysis demonstrated that, compared to controls, adults who stutter showed alternations in functional connectivity of cerebellum to motor cortex as well as connectivity among different locals within cerebellum. Additionally, we found that functional connectivity within cerebellar circuits was significantly correlated with severity of stuttering. The alternations of functional connectivity within basal ganglia-thalamocortical networks were identified as the reduced connectivity of the putamen to the superior temporal gyrus and inferior parietal lobules in adults who stutter. The abnormalities of resting state functional connectivity are assumed to affect language planning and motor execution critical for speaking fluently. Our findings may yield neurobiological cues to the biomarkers of PDS.
authors.affiliation: Neuroimaging Laboratory, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University Health Science Center, Shenzhen, China.|Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China.|Guangdong Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Detection and Ultrasound Imaging, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Neuroimaging Laboratory, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University Health Science Center, Shenzhen, China.|Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China.|Guangdong Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Detection and Ultrasound Imaging, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Fanlu
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China.|School of Humanities, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Wai Ting
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Siok
authors.affiliation: Neuroimaging Laboratory, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University Health Science Center, Shenzhen, China.|Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China.|Guangdong Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Detection and Ultrasound Imaging, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Li Hai
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology; D013342:Stuttering / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology