Bahar Nilgoun, Cler Gabriel J, Krishnan Saloni, Asaridou Salomi S, Smith Harriet J, Willis Hanna E, Healy Máiréad P, Watkins Kate E
Department of Experimental Psychology & Wellcome Trust Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Neurobiol Lang (Camb). 2024 Jun 3;5(2):288-314. doi: 10.1162/nol_a_00127. eCollection 2024.
Approximately 7% of children have developmental language disorder (DLD), a neurodevelopmental condition associated with persistent language learning difficulties without a known cause. Our understanding of the neurobiological basis of DLD is limited. Here, we used FreeSurfer to investigate cortical surface area and thickness in a large cohort of 156 children and adolescents aged 10-16 years with a range of language abilities, including 54 with DLD, 28 with a history of speech-language difficulties who did not meet criteria for DLD, and 74 age-matched controls with typical language development (TD). We also examined cortical asymmetries in DLD using an automated surface-based technique. Relative to the TD group, those with DLD showed smaller surface area bilaterally in the inferior frontal gyrus extending to the anterior insula, in the posterior temporal and ventral occipito-temporal cortex, and in portions of the anterior cingulate and superior frontal cortex. Analysis of the whole cohort using a language proficiency factor revealed that language ability correlated positively with surface area in similar regions. There were no differences in cortical thickness, nor in asymmetry of these cortical metrics between TD and DLD. This study highlights the importance of distinguishing between surface area and cortical thickness in investigating the brain basis of neurodevelopmental disorders and suggests the development of cortical surface area to be of importance to DLD. Future longitudinal studies are required to understand the developmental trajectory of these cortical differences in DLD and how they relate to language maturation.
约7%的儿童患有发育性语言障碍（DLD），这是一种神经发育状况，与持续存在的语言学习困难相关且病因不明。我们对DLD神经生物学基础的了解有限。在此，我们使用FreeSurfer软件，对一大群年龄在10至16岁、具有不同语言能力的儿童和青少年进行研究，以探究其皮质表面积和厚度，其中包括54名患有DLD的儿童、28名有语言障碍病史但未达DLD标准的儿童，以及74名年龄匹配、语言发育正常（TD）的对照儿童。我们还使用基于表面的自动化技术检查了DLD患者的皮质不对称性。相对于TD组，患有DLD的儿童在双侧额下回延伸至前脑岛、颞叶后部和枕颞腹侧皮质以及前扣带回和额上回部分区域的表面积较小。使用语言能力因子对整个队列进行分析发现，语言能力与相似区域的表面积呈正相关。TD组和DLD组在皮质厚度以及这些皮质指标的不对称性方面均无差异。本研究强调了在研究神经发育障碍的脑基础时区分表面积和皮质厚度的重要性，并表明皮质表面积的发育对DLD很重要。未来需要进行纵向研究，以了解DLD中这些皮质差异的发育轨迹以及它们与语言成熟的关系。
