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Motor Abilities in Adolescents Born Preterm Are Associated With Microstructure of the Corpus Callosum

Groeschel, S; Holmstroem, L; Northam, G; Tournier, J-D; Baldeweg, T; Latal, B; Caflisch, J; (2019) Motor Abilities in Adolescents Born Preterm Are Associated With Microstructure of the Corpus Callosum. Frontiers in Neurology , 10 (367) 10.3389/fneur.2019.00367. Green open access

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Abstract

Background: Preterm birth is associated with increased risk of neuromotor impairment. Rates of major neuromotor impairment (cerebral palsy) have decreased; however, in a large proportion of those who do not develop cerebral palsy impaired neuromotor function is observed and this often has implications for everyday life. The aim of this study was to investigate motor performance in preterm born adolescents without cerebral palsy, and to examine associations with alterations of motor system pathway structure. Design/Methods: Thirty-two adolescents (12 males) without cerebral palsy, born before 33 weeks of gestation (mean 27.4 weeks, SD 2.4; birth weight mean 1,084.5 g; SD 387.2), treated at a single tertiary unit, were assessed (median age 16 years; min 14, max 18). Timed performance and quality of movements were assessed with the Zürich Neuromotor Assessment. Neuroimaging included Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging for tractography of the major motor tracts and measurement of fractional anisotropy as a measure of microstructure of the tracts along the major motor pathways. Separate analyses were conducted for areas with predominantly single and predominantly crossing fiber regions. Results: Motor performance in both tasks assessing timed performance and quality of movements, was poorer than expected in the preterm group in relation to norm population. The strongest significant correlations were seen between performance in tasks assessing movement quality and fractional anisotropy in corpus callosum fibers connecting primary motor, primary somatosensory and premotor areas. In addition, timed motor performance was significantly related to fractional anisotropy in the cortico-spinal and thalamo-cortical to premotor area fibers, and the corpus callosum. Conclusions: Impairments in motor abilities are present in preterm born adolescents without major neuromotor impairment and in the absence of focal brain injury. Altered microstructure of the corpus callosum microstructure appears a crucial factor, in particular for movement quality.

Type: Article
Title: Motor Abilities in Adolescents Born Preterm Are Associated With Microstructure of the Corpus Callosum
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00367
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2019.00367
Language: English
Additional information: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords: Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Clinical Neurology, Neurosciences, Neurosciences & Neurology, preterm birth, brain injury, white matter microstructure, motor abilities, diffusion magnetic resonance imaging, tractography, corpus callosum, BIRTH-WEIGHT CHILDREN, WHITE-MATTER, NEUROMOTOR DEVELOPMENT, CEREBRAL-PALSY, DIFFUSION MRI, SKILLS, ABNORMALITIES, IMPAIRMENT, MOVEMENTS, DEFICITS
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Developmental Neurosciences Dept
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10073728
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