The Effect of Preterm Birth on Thalamic and Cortical Development
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 19 July 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Cerebral Cortex
- Vol. 22 (5), 1016-1024
- https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhr176
Abstract
Preterm birth is a leading cause of cognitive impairment in childhood and is associated with cerebral gray and white matter abnormalities. Using multimodal image analysis, we tested the hypothesis that altered thalamic development is an important component of preterm brain injury and is associated with other macro- and microstructural alterations. T1- and T2-weighted magnetic resonance images and 15-direction diffusion tensor images were acquired from 71 preterm infants at term-equivalent age. Deformation-based morphometry, Tract-Based Spatial Statistics, and tissue segmentation were combined for a nonsubjective whole-brain survey of the effect of prematurity on regional tissue volume and microstructure. Increasing prematurity was related to volume reduction in the thalamus, hippocampus, orbitofrontal lobe, posterior cingulate cortex, and centrum semiovale. After controlling for prematurity, reduced thalamic volume predicted: lower cortical volume; decreased volume in frontal and temporal lobes, including hippocampus, and to a lesser extent, parietal and occipital lobes; and reduced fractional anisotropy in the corticospinal tracts and corpus callosum. In the thalamus, reduced volume was associated with increased diffusivity. This demonstrates a significant effect of prematurity on thalamic development that is related to abnormalities in allied brain structures. This suggests that preterm delivery disrupts specific aspects of cerebral development, such as the thalamocortical system.Keywords
This publication has 61 references indexed in Scilit:
- Perinatal cortical growth and childhood neurocognitive abilitiesNeurology, 2011
- Emergence of resting state networks in the preterm human brainProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- Longitudinal Analysis of Neural Network Development in Preterm InfantsCerebral Cortex, 2010
- High-Frequency Oscillatory Ventilation Is Not Associated With Increased Risk of Neuropathology Compared With Positive Pressure Ventilation: A Preterm Primate ModelPediatric Research, 2009
- From selective vulnerability to connectivity: insights from newborn brain imagingTrends in Neurosciences, 2009
- Thalamic Damage in Periventricular Leukomalacia: Novel Pathologic Observations Relevant to Cognitive Deficits in Survivors of PrematurityPediatric Research, 2009
- Selective reduction of neuron number and volume of the mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus in macaques following irradiation at early gestational agesJournal of Comparative Neurology, 2009
- Brain injury in premature infants: a complex amalgam of destructive and developmental disturbancesThe Lancet Neurology, 2009
- Gray matter injury associated with periventricular leukomalacia in the premature infantActa Neuropathologica, 2007
- Resting-state networks in the infant brainProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2007