Department of Physiology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada; Neurosciences and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 0A4, Canada.
Department of Paediatrics, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada; Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1V7, Canada; Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, Ontario M4G 1R8, Canada.
Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2023 Aug;62:101275. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101275. Epub 2023 Jul 7.
Childhood concussion may interfere with neurodevelopment and influence cognition. Females are more likely to experience persistent symptoms after concussion, yet the sex-specific impact of concussion on brain microstructure in children is understudied. This study examined white matter and cortical microstructure, based on neurite density (ND) from diffusion-weighted MRI, in 9-to-10-year-old children in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study with (n = 336) and without (n = 7368) a history of concussion, and its relationship with cognitive performance. Multivariate regression was used to investigate relationships between ND and group, sex, and age in deep and superficial white matter, subcortical structures, and cortex. Partial least square correlation was performed to identify associations between ND and performance on NIH Toolbox tasks in children with concussion. All tissue types demonstrated higher ND with age, reflecting brain maturation. Group comparisons revealed higher ND in deep and superficial white matter in females with concussion. In female but not male children with concussion, there were significant associations between ND and performance on cognitive tests. These results demonstrate a greater long-term impact of childhood concussion on white matter microstructure in females compared to males that is associated with cognitive function. The increase in ND in females may reflect premature white matter maturation.
儿童脑震荡可能会干扰神经发育并影响认知。女性在脑震荡后更有可能出现持续症状，但脑震荡对儿童大脑微观结构的性别特异性影响仍研究不足。本研究基于弥散加权 MRI 的神经丝密度（ND），在青少年大脑认知发育研究中，对有（n=336）和无（n=7368）脑震荡史的 9-10 岁儿童进行了白质和皮质微观结构研究，并探讨了其与认知表现的关系。多变量回归用于研究 ND 与组、性别和年龄在深部和浅部白质、皮质下结构和皮质之间的关系。偏最小二乘法相关性用于识别脑震荡儿童 ND 与 NIH 工具包任务表现之间的关联。所有组织类型均表现出随年龄增长 ND 增加，反映了大脑成熟度。组间比较显示，脑震荡女性的深部和浅部白质 ND 更高。在脑震荡的女性儿童中，但不是男性儿童中，ND 与认知测试表现之间存在显著关联。这些结果表明，与男性相比，女性儿童的脑震荡对大脑微观结构的长期影响更大，与认知功能有关。女性 ND 的增加可能反映了白质成熟的过早。
