Fan Jia, Woods Keri J, Jacobson Joseph L, Taylor Paul A, Toich Jadrana T F, Molteno Christopher D, Jacobson Sandra W, Meintjes Ernesta M
Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res (Hoboken). 2024 Jun;48(6):1050-1062. doi: 10.1111/acer.15332. Epub 2024 May 2.
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) include a range of neurocognitive and behavioral impairments resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). Among the PAE-related cognitive deficits, number processing is particularly affected. This study examines alterations in number processing networks and whether changes in functional connectivity mediate the adverse effects of PAE on arithmetic performance.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was acquired in 57 children (mean (SD) age = 11.3 (+0.9) yr), 38 with FASD (19 fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) or partial FAS (PFAS), 19 heavily exposed (HE)) and 19 controls. Whole-brain correlation analyses were performed from five seeds located in regions involved in number processing.
Children with FAS/PFAS showed dose-dependent reductions in resting state functional connectivity between the seed in the right (R) posterior superior parietal lobule and a cluster in the left (L) inferior frontal gyrus, and between a seed in the R horizontal intraparietal sulcus and clusters in the R precentral gyrus and L cerebellar lobule VI. HE children showed lower resting state functional connectivity in a subset of these regions. Lower functional connectivity in the two fronto-parietal connections partially mediated the adverse effects of PAE on arithmetic performance.
This study demonstrates PAE-related functional connectivity impairments in functional networks involved in number processing. The weaker connectivity between the R posterior superior parietal lobule and the L inferior frontal gyrus suggests that impaired verbal processing and visuospatial working memory may play a role in number processing deficits, while weaker connectivity between the R intraparietal sulcus and the R precentral gyrus points to poorer finger-based numerical representation, which has been linked to arithmetic computational skills.
胎儿酒精谱系障碍（FASD）包括一系列因产前酒精暴露（PAE）导致的神经认知和行为损害。在与PAE相关的认知缺陷中，数字处理受到的影响尤为明显。本研究考察了数字处理网络的改变，以及功能连接的变化是否介导了PAE对算术表现的不利影响。
对57名儿童（平均（标准差）年龄 = 11.3（+0.9）岁）进行了磁共振成像（MRI）检查，其中38名患有FASD（19名胎儿酒精综合征（FAS）或部分FAS（PFAS），19名重度暴露（HE）），19名作为对照。从位于参与数字处理区域的五个种子点进行全脑相关性分析。
患有FAS/PFAS的儿童在右侧（R）后顶上小叶的种子点与左侧（L）额下回的一个簇之间，以及R水平顶内沟的一个种子点与R中央前回和L小脑小叶VI的簇之间，静息态功能连接呈剂量依赖性降低。HE儿童在这些区域的一个子集中显示出较低的静息态功能连接。两个额顶连接中较低的功能连接部分介导了PAE对算术表现的不利影响。
本研究证明了PAE相关的功能连接在参与数字处理的功能网络中存在损害。R后顶上小叶与L额下回之间较弱的连接表明，言语处理和视觉空间工作记忆受损可能在数字处理缺陷中起作用，而R顶内沟与R中央前回之间较弱的连接则表明基于手指的数字表征较差，这与算术计算技能有关。
