Alterations of Regional Homogeneity in Children With Congenital Sensorineural Hearing Loss: A Resting-State fMRI Study.

Pingping Guo,Yikang Liu,Bihong T Chen,Siyuan Lang,Zisan Zeng,Zuguang Wen,Yifeng Wang,Muliang Jiang

doi:10.3389/fnins.2021.678910

Abstract

Background: Brain functional alterations have been observed in children with congenital sensorineural hearing loss (CSNHL). The purpose of this study was to assess the alterations of regional homogeneity in children with CSNHL.Methods: Forty-five children with CSNHL and 20 healthy controls were enrolled into this study. Brain resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) for regional homogeneity including the Kendall coefficient consistency (KCC-ReHo) and the coherence-based parameter (Cohe-ReHo) was analyzed and compared between the two groups, i.e., the CSNHL group and the healthy control group.Results: Compared to the healthy controls, children with CSNHL showed increased Cohe-ReHo values in left calcarine and decreased values in bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Children with CSNHL also had increased KCC-ReHo values in the left calcarine, cuneus, precentral gyrus, and right superior parietal lobule (SPL) and decreased values in the left VLPFC and right DLPFC. Correlations were detected between the ReHo values and age of the children with CSNHL. There were positive correlations between ReHo values in the pre-cuneus/pre-frontal cortex and age (p < 0.05). There were negative correlations between ReHo values in bilateral temporal lobes, fusiform gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus and precentral gyrus, and age (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Children with CSNHL had RoHo alterations in the auditory, visual, motor, and other related brain cortices as compared to the healthy controls with normal hearing. There were significant correlations between ReHo values and age in brain regions involved in information integration and processing. Our study showed promising data using rs-fMRI ReHo parameters to assess brain functional alterations in children with CSNHL.

Highlights

Congenital sensorineural hearing loss (CSNHL) is a disabling disease characterized by lack of sound stimulation and hearing loss at birth (Harlor and Bower, 2009; Tan et al, 2013)
There were significantly increased Cohe-Regional homogeneity (ReHo) values in left calcarine and decreased values in bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in the CSNHL group when compared to the healthy control group with corrected p < 0.05 for all clusters (Table 2 and Figure 1A)
There were significantly increased KCC-ReHo values in the left calcarine, left cuneus, left precentral, and right superior parietal lobule (SPL) and decreased values in left VLPFC and right DLPFC in the CSNHL group when compared to the healthy control group with corrected p < 0.05 for all clusters (Table 2 and Figure 1B)

Summary

Introduction

Congenital sensorineural hearing loss (CSNHL) is a disabling disease characterized by lack of sound stimulation and hearing loss at birth (Harlor and Bower, 2009; Tan et al, 2013). Auditory cortex in both humans and animals with congenital deafness may remain relatively normal without degeneration or atrophy through non-sound stimulus from vision, movement, and perception (Stanton and Harrison, 2000) It is unclear how brain function may be altered due to hearing loss and how brain neuroplasticity with other sensory modes may compensate for hearing deprivation in children with CSNHL. The connectivity analysis does not usually reflect brain regional changes that are specific to the conditions under scrutiny such as hearing loss (Greicius et al, 2007) These is an unmet need to assess specific brain regions involved in hearing, vision, motor, and cognition in order to understand the effect of hearing loss on brain structure and function in children with CSNHL.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion