Abstract
Non-syndromic clefts of the lip and/or palate (NSCLP) is the most common congenital anomaly in the craniofacial region. NSCLP is a highly gene-associated malformation. We speculate that pregnant women with NSCLP fetuses (pregnancies with NSCLP) may have specific brain changes during pregnancy. To explore characteristic brain function changes of pregnancies with NSCLP, we analyzed resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) data of 42 pregnant women (21 pregnancies with NSCLP and 21 pregnancies with normal fetuses) to compare intergroup differences of (fractional) amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF/ALFF), regional homogeneity (Reho), functional connectivity (FC) and network topological properties. Compared with the control group, increased ALFF in the left hippocampus, the right fusiform and the left anterior cingulate (ACG), increased Reho in left middle occipital gyrus (MOG) and right medial frontal gyrus (MFG) were found for pregnancies with NSCLP. Meanwhile, FC between the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and bilateral olfactory cortex (OLF), FC between left precentral gyrus (PreCG) and right MFG, FC between right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and left inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) were enhanced in pregnancies with NSCLP. Besides, FC between left PreCG and left amygdala, bilateral para-hippocampal gyrus, FC between left amygdala and left MFG, right IFG were decreased. Graph theory-based analysis explored increased degree centrality (DC), betweenness centrality (BC) and nodal efficiency (Ne) in the left ITG and left SMG for pregnancies with NSCLP. Pregnancies with NSCLP has widespread decreased FC within neural networks of speech and language, which indicated that they were more likely to be associated with defects in speech and language skills. At the same time, increased topological indices showed that speech and language related regions played dominant role in their brain networks. These findings may provide clues for early detection of NSCLP fetuses.
Highlights
Vast amount of studies on non-human animal studies indicates that during peripartum period, the interplay between pregnancy hormones and peripheral stimulation leads to multiple structural and functional adaptations in the mother’s brain that are necessary for the onset, maintenance, and regulation of maternal behavior (Numan, 2007; Feldman et al, 2019)
Pregnancies with Non-syndromic clefts of the lip and/or palate (NSCLP) had widespread decreased functional connectivity (FC) within neural networks of speech and language, which indicated that they were more likely to be associated with defects in speech and language skills
At the same time, increased topological indices showed that speech and language related regions played dominant role in their brain networks
Summary
Vast amount of studies on non-human animal studies indicates that during peripartum period, the interplay between pregnancy hormones and peripheral stimulation leads to multiple structural and functional adaptations in the mother’s brain that are necessary for the onset, maintenance, and regulation of maternal behavior (Numan, 2007; Feldman et al, 2019). Researches into peripartum endocrine (Deligiannidis et al, 2013; Hellgren et al, 2013) and immune function (Boufidou et al, 2009; Corwin et al, 2015) in human are increasing, studies exploring human brain changes in this period are limited. There are studies showing no significant changes in GMV, white matter volume (WMV) or brain volume for primiparous women during this period (Zheng et al, 2018). There are currently no functional neuroimaging studies during human pregnancy, especially for pregnant women with malformed fetuses. This kind of work might be relevant to understand human brain functional changes and potential neural mechanism during this period and particular situation
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