Neonatal brain injury influences structural connectivity and childhood functional outcomes.

Neonatal brain injury may impact brain development and lead to lifelong functional impairments. Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and congenital heart disease (CHD) are two common causes of neonatal brain injury differing in timing and mechanism. Maturation of whole-brain neural networks can be...

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Main Authors: Alice Ramirez, Shabnam Peyvandi, Stephany Cox, Dawn Gano, Duan Xu, Olga Tymofiyeva, Patrick S McQuillen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0262310&type=printable
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author Alice Ramirez
Shabnam Peyvandi
Stephany Cox
Dawn Gano
Duan Xu
Olga Tymofiyeva
Patrick S McQuillen
author_facet Alice Ramirez
Shabnam Peyvandi
Stephany Cox
Dawn Gano
Duan Xu
Olga Tymofiyeva
Patrick S McQuillen
author_sort Alice Ramirez
collection DOAJ
description Neonatal brain injury may impact brain development and lead to lifelong functional impairments. Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and congenital heart disease (CHD) are two common causes of neonatal brain injury differing in timing and mechanism. Maturation of whole-brain neural networks can be quantified during development using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) in combination with graph theory metrics. DMRI of 35 subjects with CHD and 62 subjects with HIE were compared to understand differences in the effects of HIE and CHD on the development of network topological parameters and functional outcomes. CHD newborns had worse 12-18 month language (P<0.01) and 30 month cognitive (P<0.01), language (P = 0.05), motor outcomes (P = 0.01). Global efficiency, a metric of brain integration, was lower in CHD (P = 0.03) than in HIE, but transitivity, modularity and small-worldness were similar. After controlling for clinical factors known to affect neurodevelopmental outcomes, we observed that global efficiency was highly associated with 30 month motor outcomes (P = 0.02) in both groups. To explore neural correlates of adverse language outcomes in CHD, we used hypothesis-based and data-driven approaches to identify pathways with altered structural connectivity. We found that connectivity strength in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) tract 2 was inversely associated with expressive language. After false discovery rate correction, a whole connectome edge analysis identified 18 pathways that were hypoconnected in the CHD cohort as compared to HIE. In sum, our study shows that neonatal structural connectivity predicts early motor development after HIE or in subjects with CHD, and regional SLF connectivity is associated with language outcomes. Further research is needed to determine if and how brain networks change over time and whether those changes represent recovery or ongoing dysfunction. This knowledge will directly inform strategies to optimize neurologic functional outcomes after neonatal brain injury.
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spelling doaj-art-7c005df2560547cda9ab858c9baef8e02025-08-20T02:46:28ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01171e026231010.1371/journal.pone.0262310Neonatal brain injury influences structural connectivity and childhood functional outcomes.Alice RamirezShabnam PeyvandiStephany CoxDawn GanoDuan XuOlga TymofiyevaPatrick S McQuillenNeonatal brain injury may impact brain development and lead to lifelong functional impairments. Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and congenital heart disease (CHD) are two common causes of neonatal brain injury differing in timing and mechanism. Maturation of whole-brain neural networks can be quantified during development using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) in combination with graph theory metrics. DMRI of 35 subjects with CHD and 62 subjects with HIE were compared to understand differences in the effects of HIE and CHD on the development of network topological parameters and functional outcomes. CHD newborns had worse 12-18 month language (P<0.01) and 30 month cognitive (P<0.01), language (P = 0.05), motor outcomes (P = 0.01). Global efficiency, a metric of brain integration, was lower in CHD (P = 0.03) than in HIE, but transitivity, modularity and small-worldness were similar. After controlling for clinical factors known to affect neurodevelopmental outcomes, we observed that global efficiency was highly associated with 30 month motor outcomes (P = 0.02) in both groups. To explore neural correlates of adverse language outcomes in CHD, we used hypothesis-based and data-driven approaches to identify pathways with altered structural connectivity. We found that connectivity strength in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) tract 2 was inversely associated with expressive language. After false discovery rate correction, a whole connectome edge analysis identified 18 pathways that were hypoconnected in the CHD cohort as compared to HIE. In sum, our study shows that neonatal structural connectivity predicts early motor development after HIE or in subjects with CHD, and regional SLF connectivity is associated with language outcomes. Further research is needed to determine if and how brain networks change over time and whether those changes represent recovery or ongoing dysfunction. This knowledge will directly inform strategies to optimize neurologic functional outcomes after neonatal brain injury.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0262310&type=printable
spellingShingle Alice Ramirez
Shabnam Peyvandi
Stephany Cox
Dawn Gano
Duan Xu
Olga Tymofiyeva
Patrick S McQuillen
Neonatal brain injury influences structural connectivity and childhood functional outcomes.
PLoS ONE
title Neonatal brain injury influences structural connectivity and childhood functional outcomes.
title_full Neonatal brain injury influences structural connectivity and childhood functional outcomes.
title_fullStr Neonatal brain injury influences structural connectivity and childhood functional outcomes.
title_full_unstemmed Neonatal brain injury influences structural connectivity and childhood functional outcomes.
title_short Neonatal brain injury influences structural connectivity and childhood functional outcomes.
title_sort neonatal brain injury influences structural connectivity and childhood functional outcomes
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0262310&type=printable
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