Altered corpus callosum structure in adolescents with cerebral palsy : connection to gait and balance
Year of publication
2023
Authors
Jaatela, Julia; Nurmi, Timo; Vallinoja, Jaakko; Mäenpää, Helena; Sairanen, Viljami; Piitulainen, Harri;
Abstract
Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common motor disorder in childhood. Recent studies in children with CP have associated weakened sensorimotor performance with impairments in the major brain white-matter (WM) structure, corpus callosum (CC). However, the relationship between CC structure and lower extremity performance, specifcally gait and balance, remains unknown. This study investigated the transcallosal WM structure and lower limb motor stability performance in adolescents aged 10–18 years with spastic hemiplegic (n=18) or diplegic (n=13) CP and in their age-matched controls (n=34). The modern difusion-weighted MRI analysis included the difusivity properties of seven CC subparts and the transcallosal lower limb sensorimotor tract of the dominant hemisphere. Children with CP had comprehensive impairments in the cross-sectional area, fractional anisotropy, and mean difusivity of the CC and sensorimotor tract. Additionally, the extent of WM alterations varied between hemiplegic and diplegic subgroups, which was seen especially in the fractional anisotropy values along the sensorimotor tract. The difusion properties of transcallosal WM were further associated with static stability in all groups, and with dynamic stability in healthy controls. Our novel results clarify the mechanistic role of the corpus callosum in adolescents with and without CP ofering valuable insight into the complex interplay between the brain’s WM organization and motor performance. A better understanding of the brain basis of weakened stability performance could, in addition, improve the specifcity of clinical diagnosis and targeted rehabilitation in CP.
Show moreOrganizations and authors
Tampere University Hospital Catchment Area
Sairanen Viljami
Publication type
Publication format
Article
Parent publication type
Journal
Article type
Original article
Audience
ScientificPeer-reviewed
Peer-ReviewedMINEDU's publication type classification code
A1 Journal article (refereed), original researchPublication channel information
Journal
Parent publication name
Volume
228
Issue
8
Pages
1901-1915
ISSN
Publication forum
Publication forum level
1
Open access
Open access in the publisher’s service
Yes
Open access of publication channel
Partially open publication channel
License of the publisher’s version
CC BY
Self-archived
Yes
Other information
Fields of science
Sport and fitness sciences; Neurosciences; Gynaecology and paediatrics
Keywords
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Publication country
Germany
Internationality of the publisher
International
Language
English
International co-publication
No
Co-publication with a company
No
DOI
10.1007/s00429-023-02692-1
The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection
Yes