Wood A G, Saling M M, Jackson G D, Reutens D C
Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne, Parkville 3010, Victoria, Australia.
Epilepsy Behav. 2008 Apr;12(3):427-33. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2007.12.020. Epub 2008 Feb 4.
The anatomical factors underlying reorganization of language representation are yet to be elucidated, although correlations between asymmetric structures and language lateralization have been identified. Previous research has implicated the corpus callosum in the development of language lateralization. This study examined the relationship between callosal morphology and language asymmetry, using letter fluency functional magnetic resonance imaging, in 13 patients with focal epilepsy and 8 healthy controls. Regional callosal thickness was determined without relying on a priori delineation of callosal segments. We predicted that language asymmetry measured by fMRI activation laterality scores would be correlated with regional callosal thickness in both groups. However, only the degree of language activation asymmetry was significantly correlated with callosal thickness in the isthmus and the midbody of patients, and there was a significant interaction between the groups with respect to callosal thickness and language activation asymmetry. These data suggest that callosal pathways may be important for language reorganization in the context of early cerebral injury.
尽管已确定不对称结构与语言侧化之间存在关联，但语言表征重组背后的解剖学因素仍有待阐明。先前的研究表明胼胝体在语言侧化发展中起作用。本研究使用字母流畅性功能磁共振成像，对13例局灶性癫痫患者和8名健康对照者进行了胼胝体形态与语言不对称性之间关系的研究。在不依赖于胼胝体节段的先验描绘的情况下确定区域胼胝体厚度。我们预测，通过功能磁共振成像激活侧化分数测量的语言不对称性在两组中都将与区域胼胝体厚度相关。然而，只有语言激活不对称程度与患者胼胝体峡部和中部的厚度显著相关，并且在胼胝体厚度和语言激活不对称性方面两组之间存在显著交互作用。这些数据表明，在早期脑损伤的背景下，胼胝体通路可能对语言重组很重要。
