Prematurity is associated with white matter injury. Diffusion tensor imaging, a new magnetic resonance imaging technique, identifies white matter fiber tracts and quantifies structural properties. We used diffusion tensor imaging fiber tracking to compare white matter characteristics in a 12-year-old born prematurely and full-term control. We divided fibers passing through the corpus callosum into 7 segments based on cortical projection zones and analyzed them for fractional anisotropy, axial diffusivity, and radial diffusivity. We also compared corticospinal and somatosensory tracts in the participant and control. The participant had decreased factional anisotropy in every callosal segment, particularly in superior and posterior parietal projections. Fractional anisotropy of the corticospinal and somatosensory tracts was not lower in the participant than control. Fiber tracking allowed precise localization and visualization of white matter injuries of the corpus callosum associated with prematurity. Quantitative measures suggested myelin deficiencies across the corpus callosum, particularly in parietal projections.
Volpe JJNeurobiology of periventricular leukomalacia in the premature infant . Pediatric Res. 2001;50:553-562.
2.
Skranes J., Vangberg TR, Kulseng S., et al. Clinical findings and white matter abnormalities seen on diffusion tensor imaging in adolescents with very low birth weight. Brain. 2007;130(pt 3): 654-666.
3.
Constable RT , Ment LR, Vohr BR, et al. Prematurely born children demonstrate white matter microstructural differences at 12 years of age, relative to term control subjects: an investigation of group and gender effects. Pediatrics. 2008;121:306-316.
4.
Vangberg TR, Skranes J., Dale AM, Martinussen M., Brubakk A-M., Haraldseth O.Changes in white matter diffusion anisotropy in adolescents born prematurely . Neuroimage. 2006;32:1538-1548.
5.
Counsell SJ, Shen Y., Boardman JP, et al. Axial and radial diffusivity in preterm infants who have diffuse white matter changes on magnetic resonance imaging at term-equivalent age . Pediatrics. 2006;117:376-386.
6.
Nagy Z., Westerberg H., Skare S., et al. Preterm children have disturbances of white matter at 11 years of age as shown by diffusion tensor imaging. Pediatric Res . 2003;54:672-679.
7.
Drobyshevsky A., Bregman J., Storey P., et al. Serial diffusion tensor imaging detects white matter changes that correlate with motor outcome in premature infants . Dev Neurosci. 2007;29: 289-301.
8.
Ben-Shachar M. , Dougherty RF, Wandell BA, Ben-Shachar M., Dougherty RF, Wandell BAWhite matter pathways in reading. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2007;17:258-270.
9.
Snook L., Plewes C., Beaulieu C.Voxel based versus region of interest analysis in diffusion tensor imaging of neurodevelopment. Neuroimage. 2007 ;34:243-252.
10.
Nosarti C., Rushe TM, Woodruff PWR, Stewart AL, Rifkin L., Murray RMCorpus callosum size and very preterm birth: relationship to neuropsychological outcome. Brain. 2004;127(pt 9): 2080-2089.
11.
Huang H., Zhang J., Jiang H., et al. DTI tractography based parcellation of white matter: application to the mid-sagittal morphology of corpus callosum. Neuroimage . 2005;26: 195-205.
12.
Dougherty RF , Ben-Shachar M., Deutsch GK, Hernandez A., Fox GR, Wandell BATemporal-callosal pathway diffusivity predicts phonological skills in children . Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A . 2007;104:8556-8561.
13.
Rohde GK, Barnett AS, Basser PJ, Marenco S., Pierpaoli C.Comprehensive approach for correction of motion and distortion in diffusion-weighted MRI. Magn Reson Med. 2004 ;51: 103-114.
14.
Pierpaoli C. , Basser PJToward a quantitative assessment of diffusion anisotropy. Magn Reson Med. 1996 ;36:893-906.
15.
Dougherty RF , Ben-Shachar M., Bammer R., Brewer AA, Wandell BAFunctional organization of human occipital-callosal fiber tracts. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 ;102: 7350-7355.
16.
Dougherty RF , Ben-Shachar M., Deutsch G., Potanina P., Bammer R., Wandell BAOccipital-callosal pathways in children: validation and atlas development. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 ;1064:98-112.
17.
Basser PJ, Pajevic S., Pierpaoli C., Duda J., Aldroubi A.In vivo fiber tractography using DT-MRI data. Magn Reson Med . 2000;44:625-632.
18.
Akers D.CINCH: a cooperatively designed marking interface for 3D pathway selection. Paper presented at: 19th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST); October 15-18, 2006; Montreux , Switzerland.
19.
Wakana S., Caprihan A., Panzenboeck MM, et al. Reproducibility of quantitative tractography methods applied to cerebral white matter. Neuroimage. 2007 ;36:630-644.
20.
Rotarska-Jagiela A., Schönmeyer R., Oertel V., Haenschel C., Vogeley K., Linden DEJ.The corpus callosum in schizophrenia-volume and connectivity changes affect specific regions. Neuroimage . 2008;39:1522-1532.
21.
Hernandez A., Dougherty RF, Fox GR, et al. callosal segments defined by cortical projection zones differ in fractional anisotropy. Paper presented at: 13th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society; April, 2006; San Francisco, CA.
22.
Riddle A., Ling Luo N., Manese M., et al. Spatial heterogeneity in oligodendrocyte lineage maturation and not cerebral blood flow predicts fetal ovine periventricular white matter injury. J Neurosci. 2006;26:3045-3055.
23.
Kadhim H., Khalifa M., Deltenre P., Casimir G., Sebire G.Molecular mechanisms of cell death in periventricular leukomalacia . Neurology. 2006;67:293-299.
24.
Back SA, Riddle A., McClure MMMaturation-dependent vulnerability of perinatal white matter in premature birth. Stroke. 2007;38:724-730.
25.
Folkerth RDPeriventricular leukomalacia: overview and recent findings. Pediat Dev Pathol. 2006;9:3-13.
26.
Sen PN, Basser PJA model for diffusion in white matter in the brain. Biophys J. 2005;89:2927-2938.
27.
Christian B.The basis of anisotropic water diffusion in the nervous system-a technical review. NMR Biomed. 2002;15: 435-455.
28.
Song S.-K, Sun S.-W, Ramsbottom MJ, Chang C., Russell J., Cross AHDysmyelination revealed through MRI as increased radial (but unchanged axial) diffusion of water. Neuroimage. 2002 ;17:1429-1436.
29.
Budde MD, Kim JH, Liang H.-F, Russell JH, Cross AH, Song S.-K. Axonal injury detected by in vivo diffusion tensor imaging correlates with neurological disability in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. NMR Biomed. 2008;21:589-597.
