title: Functional and structural connectivity of the visual system in infants with perinatal brain injury.
abstract: Infants with perinatal brain injury are at risk of later visual problems. Advanced neuroimaging techniques show promise to detect functional and structural alterations of the visual system. We hypothesized that infants with perinatal brain injury would have less brain activation during a visual functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task and reduced task-based functional connectivity and structural connectivity as compared with healthy controls.
  
  
  
  Ten infants with perinatal brain injury and 20 control infants underwent visual fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) during natural sleep with no sedation. Activation maps, functional connectivity maps, and structural connectivity were analyzed and compared between the two groups.
  
  
  
  Most infants in both groups had negative activation in the visual cortex during the fMRI task. Infants with brain injury showed reduced activation in the occipital cortex, weaker connectivity between visual areas and other areas of the brain during the visual task, and reduced fractional anisotropy in white matter tracts projecting to visual regions, as compared with control infants.
  
  
  
  Infants with brain injury sustained in the perinatal period showed evidence of decreased brain activity and functional connectivity during a visual task and altered structural connectivity as compared with healthy term neonates.
authors.affiliation: Perinatal Institute, Division of Neonatology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
authors.forename: Stephanie L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Merhar
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
authors.forename: Elveda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gozdas
authors.affiliation: Imaging Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
authors.forename: Jean A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Tkach
authors.affiliation: Division of Occupational and Physical Therapy, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
authors.forename: Karen L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Harpster
authors.affiliation: Division of Ophthalmology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
authors.forename: Terry L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.|Imaging Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
authors.forename: Weihong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Medical imaging, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
authors.forename: Beth M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kline-Fath
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Medical imaging, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
authors.forename: James L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Leach
authors.affiliation: Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
authors.forename: Mekibib
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Altaye
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.|Imaging Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
authors.forename: Scott K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Holland
mesh_terms: D016880:Anisotropy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways; D059906:Neuroimaging; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D012984:Software; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology