Altered Structural Connectivity of the Claustrum in Preterm-Born Adults
Poster No:
312
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Jil Wendt1, Antonia Neubauer2, Dennis Hedderich1, Benita Schmitz-Koep3, Hongwei Li4, Sevilay Ayyildiz1, David Schinz1, Rebecca Hippen1, Marcel Daamen5, Henning Boecker6, Claus Zimmer7, Dieter Wolke8, Peter Bartmann9, Christian Sorg10, Aurore Menegaux3
Institutions:
1Technical University of Munich, Munich, Bavaria, 2Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Munich, Bavaria, 3TUM University Hospital, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, Munich, Bavaria, 4Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 5University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, NRW, 6Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, NRW, 7Institute for Neuroradiology, TUM University Hospital, Munich, Bavaria, 8Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Warwick, CV4 7AL, 9Department of Neonatology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, NRW, 10Department of Psychiatry, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Bavaria
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Benita Schmitz-Koep
TUM University Hospital, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health
Munich, Bavaria
TUM University Hospital, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health
Munich, Bavaria
Hongwei Li
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA
Henning Boecker
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Bonn
Bonn, NRW
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Bonn
Bonn, NRW
Christian Sorg
Department of Psychiatry, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München
Munich, Bavaria
Department of Psychiatry, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München
Munich, Bavaria
Aurore Menegaux
TUM University Hospital, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health
Munich, Bavaria
TUM University Hospital, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health
Munich, Bavaria
Introduction:
Preterm birth (< 37 of weeks gestation) is associated with lasting alterations in brain development that can affect cognition and neurodevelopmental outcomes (Madzwamuse et al., 2015). The claustrum, a still little-understood yet widely connected brain structure (Torgerson et al., 2015) that has been functionally implicated in attentional control and cognitive processing (White et al., 2020), may be particularly vulnerable to disruptions caused by preterm birth (Hedderich et al., 2020). While prior research suggests altered white matter in prematurity (Neubauer et al., 2023), its specific impact on claustrum connectivity and how it may contribute to cognitive impairments remains unclear. This study aims to investigate differences in structural connectivity of the claustrum to the cortex between preterm-born and full-term-born adults using in-vivo diffusion MRI and to explore their potential relevance for attention and executive functions.
Methods:
We conducted a diffusion-weighted MRI study of 65 very preterm/very low birthweight-born (VP/VLBW) adults and 81 full-term controls, aged 26 years, from the Bavarian longitudinal study (BLS; Wolke et al., 1999). Diffusion-weighted images (DWI) were co-registered with T1-weighted images and preprocessed using the PreQual pipeline (Cai et al., 2021), which included MP-PCA denoising, inter-scan normalization, as well as generation of a synthetic undistorted b0 for distortion correction. The bilateral claustra were segmented in T1-weighted images using a deep learning-based tool (Li et al., 2021) (Figure 1). Probabilistic tractography as implemented in the FSL toolbox was used to assess the structural connectivity from the claustrum to primary and associative cortices, hippocampus, and anterior and posterior cingulate cortices. Connection density (CD) representing the density of streamlines connecting the two regions by metric volume was extracted for each target region as measure of structural connectivity (Van den Heuvel et al., 2015). Attention and executive functions were assessed using the Attention Network Test (ANT; Fan et al., 2002). ANCOVAs were performed to compare claustrum structural connectivity between PT and FT groups, controlling for age, sex, and scanner. Pearson's correlation was performed to examine the relationship between differences in tractography-derived connectivity measures and birth-related metrics (gestational age, birthweight, ventilation) as well as ANT scores.
Results:
VP/VLBW-participants exhibited significantly lower connection density (CD) to the occipital and parietal associative cortices (right and left) as well as to the right posterior cingulate cortex, compared to full-term participants (FT) (p < .001; Figure 1). No significant changes between groups were found for CD to frontal or temporal cortices. When correlating CD differences with birth-related metrics, birthweight and gestational age were positively correlated with CD to occipital, parietal, and posterior cingulate cortices in VP/VLBW individuals (p < .001; Figure 1). No significant association with ventilation in the neonatal period was found. Finally, investigating attention-related cognitive metrics, ANT congruency, a measure of executive control, showed a negative correlation with CD in occipital and parietal regions in VP/VLBW-participants (p < .01 for R occipital associative cortex and L parietal associative cortex, p < .05 for L occipital associative cortex; Figure 2), with higher CD associated with better performance (shorter reaction times in ms).
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that VP/VLBW-birth is associated with altered structural connectivity of the claustrum, notably to occipital and parietal associative regions, as well as the posterior cingulate cortex. These alterations are associated with the degree of prematurity and may contribute to the executive control deficits observed in preterm-born individuals.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Neurodevelopmental/ Early Life (eg. ADHD, autism) 1
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Connectivity (eg. functional, effective, structural) 2
Diffusion MRI Modeling and Analysis
Neuroanatomy, Physiology, Metabolism and Neurotransmission:
White Matter Anatomy, Fiber Pathways and Connectivity
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
Diffusion MRI
Keywords:
Cortex
Development
Tractography
White Matter
WHITE MATTER IMAGING - DTI, HARDI, DSI, ETC
Other - Preterm birth; Claustrum
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Abstract Information
By submitting your proposal, you grant permission for the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) to distribute your work in any format, including video, audio print and electronic text through OHBM OnDemand, social media channels, the OHBM website, or other electronic publications and media.
The Open Science Special Interest Group (OSSIG) is introducing a reproducibility challenge for OHBM 2025. This new initiative aims to enhance the reproducibility of scientific results and foster collaborations between labs. Teams will consist of a “source” party and a “reproducing” party, and will be evaluated on the success of their replication, the openness of the source work, and additional deliverables. Click here for more information. Propose your OHBM abstract(s) as source work for future OHBM meetings by selecting one of the following options:
Please indicate below if your study was a "resting state" or "task-activation” study.
Healthy subjects only or patients (note that patient studies may also involve healthy subjects):
Was this research conducted in the United States?
Were any human subjects research approved by the relevant Institutional Review Board or ethics panel? NOTE: Any human subjects studies without IRB approval will be automatically rejected.
Were any animal research approved by the relevant IACUC or other animal research panel? NOTE: Any animal studies without IACUC approval will be automatically rejected.
Please indicate which methods were used in your research:
For human MRI, what field strength scanner do you use?
Which processing packages did you use for your study?
Provide references using APA citation style.
Eryigit Madzwamuse (2015). Neuro-cognitive performance of very preterm or very low birth weight adults at 26 years. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56(8), 857–864. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12358
Fan, J. (2002). Testing the Efficiency and Independence of Attentionak Networks. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14(3), 340-347. https//doi.org/10.1162/089892902317361886
Hedderich, D. (2021). Aberrant Claustrum Microstructure in Humans after Premature Birth. Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), Article bhab178. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhab178
Li, H. (2021). Automated claustrum segmentation in human brain MRI using deep learning. Human Brain Mapping, Article hbm.25655. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25655
Neubauer, A. (2023). Aberrant claustrum structure in preterm-born neonates: An MRI study. NeuroImage. Clinical, 37, 103286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2022.103286
Torgerson, C. (2015). The DTI connectivity of the human claustrum. Human Brain Mapping, 36(3), 827–838. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22667
Van den Heuvel, Martijn P. (2015). Comparison of diffusion tractography and tract-tracing measures of connectivity strength in rhesus macaque connectome. Human Brain Mapping 36, 3064-3075. doi: 10.1002/hbm.22828
White, M. G. (2020). The Mouse Claustrum Is Required for Optimal Behavioral Performance Under High Cognitive Demand. Biological Psychiatry, 88(9), 719–726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.03.020
Wolke, D., & Meyer, R. (1999). Cognitive status, language attainment, and prereading skills of 6-year-old very preterm children and their peers: The Bavarian Longitudinal Study. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 41(2), 94–109. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0012162299000201