Changes in the superior longitudinal fasciculus and anterior thalamic radiation in the left brain are associated with developmental dyscalculia

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Human Neuroscience

Özgür Öner¹  Pınar Uran²  Sinan Olkun³  Emre H. Kale⁴  Sertaç Üstün⁵  Metehan Çiçek⁵  Öykü Mançe Çalışır⁶  A. Veronica Witte⁷  Nazife Ayyıldız⁸  Arno Villringer⁹  Frauke Beyer^1,10  Alfred Anwander^1,11 

[1] Department of Child and Adolescence Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, Türkiye;Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Izmir Democracy University, Izmir, Türkiye;Department of Elementary Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Ankara University, Ankara, Türkiye;Department of Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, Health Sciences Institute and Brain Research Center, Ankara University, Ankara, Türkiye;Department of Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, Health Sciences Institute and Brain Research Center, Ankara University, Ankara, Türkiye;Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Ankara University, Ankara, Türkiye;Neuroscience and Neurotechnology Center of Excellence, Ankara, Türkiye;Department of Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, Health Sciences Institute and Brain Research Center, Ankara University, Ankara, Türkiye;Program of Counseling and Guidance, Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Ankara University, Ankara, Türkiye;Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany;Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany;Department of Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, Health Sciences Institute and Brain Research Center, Ankara University, Ankara, Türkiye;Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany;MindBrainBody Institute, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Charité and Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany;Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany;Subproject A1, CRC 1052 “Obesity Mechanisms”, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany;Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany;

关键词: anterior thalamic radiation;    diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging;    mathematical learning disability;    probabilistic tractography;    superior longitudinal fasciculus;    arithmetic and numerical abilities;    childhood white matter;    tract length;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fnhum.2023.1147352

 received in 2023-01-18, accepted in 2023-09-06,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Developmental dyscalculia is a neurodevelopmental disorder specific to arithmetic learning even with normal intelligence and age-appropriate education. Difficulties often persist from childhood through adulthood lowering the individual’s quality of life. However, the neural correlates of developmental dyscalculia are poorly understood. This study aimed to identify brain structural connectivity alterations in developmental dyscalculia. All participants were recruited from a large scale, non-referred population sample in a longitudinal design. We studied 10 children with developmental dyscalculia (11.3 ± 0.7 years) and 16 typically developing peers (11.2 ± 0.6 years) using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. We assessed white matter microstructure with tract-based spatial statistics in regions-of-interest tracts that had previously been related to math ability in children. Then we used global probabilistic tractography for the first time to measure and compare tract length between developmental dyscalculia and typically developing groups. The high angular resolution diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and crossing-fiber probabilistic tractography allowed us to evaluate the length of the pathways compared to previous studies. The major findings of our study were reduced white matter coherence and shorter tract length of the left superior longitudinal/arcuate fasciculus and left anterior thalamic radiation in the developmental dyscalculia group. Furthermore, the lower white matter coherence and shorter pathways tended to be associated with the lower math performance. These results from the regional analyses indicate that learning, memory and language-related pathways in the left hemisphere might be related to developmental dyscalculia in children.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Ayyıldız, Beyer, Üstün, Kale, Mançe Çalışır, Uran, Öner, Olkun, Anwander, Witte, Villringer and Çiçek.