Effects of prenatal opioid exposure on functional networks in infancy

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

Weixiong Jiang¹  Beth M. Kline-Fath²  Jennifer Vannest²  Jean A. Tkach³  Lili He³  Zhen Zhou³  Nehal A. Parikh³  Adebayo Braimah⁴  Li Wang⁴  Weili Lin⁵  Stephanie L. Merhar⁵  Weiyan Yin⁵ 

[1] Corresponding author at: Perinatal Institute, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, 3333 Burnet Ave ML 7009, Cincinnati, OH, 45229, USA.;Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, USA;Department of Radiology and BRIC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA;Imaging Research Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, USA;Perinatal Institute, Division of Neonatology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and University of Cincinnati, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati, OH, USA;

关键词: Neonatal;    Opioid;    Neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome;    Functional MRI;    Functional connectivity;    Magnetic resonance imaging;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Prenatal opioid exposure has been linked to altered neurodevelopment and visual problems such as strabismus and nystagmus. The neural substrate underlying these alterations is unclear. Resting-state functional connectivity MRI (rsfMRI) is an advanced and well-established technique to evaluate brain networks. Few studies have examined the effects of prenatal opioid exposure on resting-state network connectivity in infancy. In this pilot study, we characterized network connectivity in opioid-exposed infants (n = 19) and controls (n = 20) between 4–8 weeks of age using both a whole-brain connectomic approach and a seed-based approach. Prenatal opioid exposure was associated with differences in distribution of betweenness centrality and connection length, with positive connections unique to each group significantly longer than common connections. The unique connections in the opioid-exposed group were more often inter-network connections while unique connections in controls and connections common to both groups were more often intra-network. The opioid-exposed group had smaller network volumes particularly in the primary visual network, but similar network strength as controls. Network topologies as determined by dice similarity index were different between groups, particularly in visual and executive control networks. These results may provide insight into the neural basis for the developmental and visual problems associated with prenatal opioid exposure.

【 授权许可】

Unknown