TY - JOUR
T1 - Anterior and posterior commissures in agenesis of the corpus callosum
T2 - Alternative pathways for attention processes?
AU - Siffredi, Vanessa
AU - Wood, Amanda G.
AU - Leventer, Richard J.
AU - Vaessen, Maarten
AU - McIlroy, Alissandra
AU - Anderson, Vicki
AU - Vuilleumier, Patrik
AU - Spencer-Smith, Megan M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program, and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the Alain Patry Grant from the "Société Académique de Genève". Dr Vanessa Siffredi was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation Doc. CH scholarship. Professor Amanda Wood is supported by a European Research Council Consolidator Fellowship [682734]. Associate Professor Richard Leventer is supported by a Melbourne Children's Clinician Scientist Fellowship. Professor Vicki Anderson was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Practitioner Fellowship.
Funding Information:
This study was supported by Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Support Program, and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the Alain Patry Grant from the "Société Académique de Genève" . Dr Vanessa Siffredi was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation Doc. CH scholarship. Professor Amanda Wood is supported by a European Research Council Consolidator Fellowship [ 682734 ]. Associate Professor Richard Leventer is supported by a Melbourne Children’s Clinician Scientist Fellowship . Professor Vicki Anderson was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Practitioner Fellowship .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2019/12
Y1 - 2019/12
N2 - Developmental absence (agenesis) of the corpus callosum (AgCC) is a congenital brain malformation resulting from disruption of corpus callosum formation, a structure that is crucial for the transfer and integration of information, including attention processes, across the brain. This study aimed to investigate previously proposed candidates for alternative inter-hemispheric pathways in AgCC by examining (1) white matter volume and microstructure of the anterior and posterior commissures in children with AgCC compared to typically developing controls (TDC), and (2) in children with AgCC, examine the associations of white matter volume and microstructure of the anterior and posterior commissures and any remaining corpus callosum with attention processes. Participants were 21 children with AgCC (13 complete, 8 partial) recruited from The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, and 30 TDC aged 8–17 years. T1-and diffusion-weighted MR sequences were used to calculate volume and microstructural parameters. Neuropsychological testing assessed attention processes. We found the anterior commissure was significantly larger in volume in children with AgCC than TDC (p = .027), with reduced mean FA (p = .001) associated with increased mean RD (p < .001). In children with AgCC, we found microstructural properties of the anterior commissure associated with attentional processes, specifically, mean FA of the anterior commissure was associated with better divided attention (p = .03), and the association between alerting attention and mean AD and RD was found to be moderated by age (p = .027, p = .008) and the degree of corpus callosum agenesis (p = .025, p = .016). Furthermore, in partial AgCC, larger posterior commissure volume was associated with better orienting attention (p = .035). In conclusion, we provide evidence that the volume and microstructure of the anterior commissure are altered in children with AgCC, and this neuroplastic response might have an influence on attention processes.
AB - Developmental absence (agenesis) of the corpus callosum (AgCC) is a congenital brain malformation resulting from disruption of corpus callosum formation, a structure that is crucial for the transfer and integration of information, including attention processes, across the brain. This study aimed to investigate previously proposed candidates for alternative inter-hemispheric pathways in AgCC by examining (1) white matter volume and microstructure of the anterior and posterior commissures in children with AgCC compared to typically developing controls (TDC), and (2) in children with AgCC, examine the associations of white matter volume and microstructure of the anterior and posterior commissures and any remaining corpus callosum with attention processes. Participants were 21 children with AgCC (13 complete, 8 partial) recruited from The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, and 30 TDC aged 8–17 years. T1-and diffusion-weighted MR sequences were used to calculate volume and microstructural parameters. Neuropsychological testing assessed attention processes. We found the anterior commissure was significantly larger in volume in children with AgCC than TDC (p = .027), with reduced mean FA (p = .001) associated with increased mean RD (p < .001). In children with AgCC, we found microstructural properties of the anterior commissure associated with attentional processes, specifically, mean FA of the anterior commissure was associated with better divided attention (p = .03), and the association between alerting attention and mean AD and RD was found to be moderated by age (p = .027, p = .008) and the degree of corpus callosum agenesis (p = .025, p = .016). Furthermore, in partial AgCC, larger posterior commissure volume was associated with better orienting attention (p = .035). In conclusion, we provide evidence that the volume and microstructure of the anterior commissure are altered in children with AgCC, and this neuroplastic response might have an influence on attention processes.
KW - Agenesis of the corpus callosum
KW - Alternative inter-hemispheric pathway
KW - Anterior and posterior commissures
KW - Attention processes
KW - Development
KW - WHITE-MATTER MICROSTRUCTURE
KW - WORKING-MEMORY CAPACITY
KW - INTERHEMISPHERIC-TRANSFER
KW - HUMAN BRAIN
KW - NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE
KW - CEREBRAL LATERALIZATION
KW - SUSTAINED ATTENTION
KW - NATIONAL CURRICULUM
KW - VOXELWISE ANALYSIS
KW - PARIETAL CORTEX
U2 - 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.09.014
DO - 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.09.014
M3 - Article
C2 - 31731212
SN - 0010-9452
VL - 121
SP - 454
EP - 467
JO - Cortex
JF - Cortex
ER -