Scientific article
English

Structural Neuroplastic Responses Preserve Functional Connectivity and Neurobehavioural Outcomes in Children Born Without Corpus Callosum

Published inCerebral cortex, vol. 31, no. 2, p. 1227-1239
Publication date2021-02-05
First online date2020-10-27
Abstract

The corpus callosum is the largest white matter pathway in the brain connecting the two hemispheres. In the context of developmental absence (agenesis) of the corpus callosum (AgCC), a proposed candidate for neuroplastic response is strengthening of intrahemispheric pathways. To test this hypothesis, we assessed structural and functional connectivity in a uniquely large cohort of children with AgCC (n = 20) compared with typically developing controls (TDC, n = 29), and then examined associations with neurobehavioral outcomes using a multivariate data-driven approach (partial least squares correlation, PLSC). For structural connectivity, children with AgCC showed a significant increase in intrahemispheric connectivity in addition to a significant decrease in interhemispheric connectivity compared with TDC, in line with the aforementioned hypothesis. In contrast, for functional connectivity, children with AgCC and TDC showed a similar pattern of intrahemispheric and interhemispheric connectivity. In conclusion, we observed structural strengthening of intrahemispheric pathways in children born without corpus callosum, which seems to allow for functional connectivity comparable to a typically developing brain, and were relevant to explain neurobehavioral outcomes in this population. This neuroplasticity might be relevant to other disorders of axonal guidance, and developmental disorders in which corpus callosum alteration is observed.

Keywords
  • Brain plasticity
  • Callosal agenesis
  • Functional connectivity
  • Structural connectivity
  • Structural reorganization
  • Adolescent
  • Agenesis of Corpus Callosum / diagnostic imaging
  • Agenesis of Corpus Callosum / physiopathology
  • Child
  • Child Behavior / physiology
  • Child Behavior / psychology
  • Cohort Studies
  • Corpus Callosum / diagnostic imaging
  • Corpus Callosum / physiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Male
  • Nerve Net / diagnostic imaging
  • Nerve Net / physiology
  • Neuronal Plasticity / physiology
Funding
  • European Commission - Identifying Predictors of Risk and Resilience for poor neuropsychological Outcome following childhood Brain InsulTs (PROBIt) [682734]
Citation (ISO format)
SIFFREDI, Vanessa et al. Structural Neuroplastic Responses Preserve Functional Connectivity and Neurobehavioural Outcomes in Children Born Without Corpus Callosum. In: Cerebral cortex, 2021, vol. 31, n° 2, p. 1227–1239. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa289
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Identifiers
Journal ISSN1047-3211
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