Citation

Wang Z, Zhang M, Sun C, Wang S, Cao J, Wang KKW, Gan S, Huang W, Niu X, Zhu Y, Sun Y, Bai L. J. Neurotrauma 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University , No.28 Xianning West Road , Xi'an, China , 710049 ; bailijun@xjtu.edu.cn.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2018.6196

PMID

30931824

Abstract

The present study aims to examine dynamic inter-hemispheric structural and functional connectivity in mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) patients with longitudinal observations from early sub-acute to chronic stages within one year. 42 mTBI patients and 42 matched healthy controls underwent clinical and neuropsychological evaluations as well as both diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and resting state functional MRI scanning. All of the patients were initially evaluated within 14 days post-injury (T-1) and follow-up at 3 months (T-2) and 6-12 months (T-3). Separate trans-callosal fiber tracts in the corpus callosum (CC) with respect to their specific inter-hemispheric cortical projections were derived with analyses of fiber tracking and voxel mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC). With DTI-based tractography, we distinguished five vertical segments of the CC (I to V). Correlation analyses were performed to evaluate relationships between the structural and functional imaging measures as well as imaging indices and neuropsychological measures. The loss of integrity in the CC demonstrated saliently persistent and time-dependent regional specificity after mTBI. The impairment spanned multiple segments from the original CC II at T-1, CC I, II, VI, V at T-2 to all sub-regions at T-3. Moreover, loss inter-hemispheric structural connectivity through the CC corresponded well to regions presenting altered inter-hemispheric functional connectivity. The decreased functional connectivity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex thereafter contributed to the poor outcome of executive function in patients. The current study provides further evidence that CC was a sign to the inter-hemispheric highways underpinning the widespread cerebral pathology that typified the syndrome of mTBI.

Language: en

Keywords

COGNITIVE FUNCTION; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS; TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY