Neural network connectivity differences in children who stutter
Neural network connectivity differences in children who stutter
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DOI：
10.1093/brain/awt275
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发表时间：
2013-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
14.5
通讯作者：
Zhu, David C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chang, Soo-Eun;Zhu, David C.
影响1%的普通人群，口吃损害了正常轻松的语音产生过程，这需要精确协调发音，呼吸和共鸣系统之间发生的顺序运动，所有这些都在毫秒的时间尺度内。那些受影响的人在说话过程中经常出现不流利的情况，往往导致负面的心理社会后果。口吃的病因仍不清楚;与其他神经发育障碍相比，迄今为止很少有研究检查儿童口吃的神经基础。在这里，我们报告，第一次，结果从功能（静息状态功能磁共振成像）和结构连接分析（概率纤维束成像）的多模态神经成像数据检查神经网络的儿童口吃。我们研究了口吃儿童（3-9岁）与年龄匹配的同龄人相比，与言语产生相关的大脑区域以及连接它们的白色物质束之间的同步大脑活动是如何不同的。结果表明，口吃的儿童在神经网络中的连接性减弱，这些神经网络支持自主节奏运动控制的时间。结果表明，口吃儿童的大脑运动和基底神经节丘脑皮层网络的发展不同，这可能反过来影响语音规划和执行过程，需要实现流畅的语音运动控制。这些结果提供了重要的初步证据表明，口吃儿童在症状发作的早期阶段存在神经学差异。
Affecting 1% of the general population, stuttering impairs the normally effortless process of speech production, which requires precise coordination of sequential movement occurring among the articulatory, respiratory, and resonance systems, all within millisecond time scales. Those afflicted experience frequent disfluencies during ongoing speech, often leading to negative psychosocial consequences. The aetiology of stuttering remains unclear; compared to other neurodevelopmental disorders, few studies to date have examined the neural bases of childhood stuttering. Here we report, for the first time, results from functional (resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging) and structural connectivity analyses (probabilistic tractography) of multimodal neuroimaging data examining neural networks in children who stutter. We examined how synchronized brain activity occurring among brain areas associated with speech production, and white matter tracts that interconnect them, differ in young children who stutter (aged 3-9 years) compared with age-matched peers. Results showed that children who stutter have attenuated connectivity in neural networks that support timing of self-paced movement control. The results suggest that auditory-motor and basal ganglia-thalamocortical networks develop differently in stuttering children, which may in turn affect speech planning and execution processes needed to achieve fluent speech motor control. These results provide important initial evidence of neurological differences in the early phases of symptom onset in children who stutter.