Magnetoencephalography reveals thalamocortical dysrhythmia in children born very preterm

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Magnetoencephalography reveals thalamocortical dysrhythmia in children born very preterm Sam Doesburg1*, Urs Ribary2, Anthony Herdman2, Alexander Moiseev3, Teresa Cheung2, Steven Miller1, Hal Weinberg2 and Ruth Grunau1 1 University of British Columbia, Canada 2 Simon Fraser University, Canada 3 Down Syndrome Research Foundation, Canada Very preterm children without major intellectual impairment, at school age often show selective deficits in executive function, memory, and problem solving. Little is known about what differences in brain activity underlie such cognitive problems. Reduced thalamic volume and white matter abnormalities revealed by MRI suggest that thalamocortical dynamics may be altered in children born very preterm. Thalamocortical dysrhythmia (TCD), characterized by altered oscillatory network activity related to thalamocortical connectivity, has been previously identified in several neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions. To examine whether altered oscillatory brain dynamics in children born very preterm indicate the presence of TCD, we recorded resting MEG from 11 children born ≤32 weeks gestation (mean 30.3, sd 2.4), and 11 age-matched full-term controls at age 7.5 years. No child had significant brain injury or intellectual impairment. Data from each of 151 MEG sensors was narrowly bandpass filtered at 1 Hz intervals from 4 – 50 Hz to determine spectral power. Preterm children, relative to controls, exhibited a number of alterations in resting MEG consistent with TCD (p < 0.05): a) reduced alpha-band power b) a shift in the peak of oscillatory power from the alpha range toward the lower-frequency theta-band which was maximal over bilateral frontal cortex; c) increased cross-frequency coupling over bilateral frontal cortex. In addition, there were trends toward increased theta oscillations at the frontal peak of this frequency shift and widespread increases in gamma-band power. In a group of children born very preterm but without intellectual impairment, specific changes in resting MEG activity indicate slight-to-moderate thalamocortical dysrhythmia. The concentration of oscillatory slowing in bilateral frontal cortex suggests that altered thalamocortical dynamics may underlie specific cognitive problems commonly diagnosed in this population. Funding: NIH grant HD039783-06A2 to REG. Conference: Biomag 2010 - 17th International Conference on Biomagnetism , Dubrovnik, Croatia, 28 Mar - 1 Apr, 2010. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: MEG: Clinical applications Citation: Doesburg S, Ribary U, Herdman A, Moiseev A, Cheung T, Miller S, Weinberg H and Grunau R (2010). Magnetoencephalography reveals thalamocortical dysrhythmia in children born very preterm. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Biomag 2010 - 17th International Conference on Biomagnetism . doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.06.00305 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 05 Apr 2010; Published Online: 05 Apr 2010. * Correspondence: Sam Doesburg, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, sam.doesburg@sickkids.ca Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Sam Doesburg Urs Ribary Anthony Herdman Alexander Moiseev Teresa Cheung Steven Miller Hal Weinberg Ruth Grunau Google Sam Doesburg Urs Ribary Anthony Herdman Alexander Moiseev Teresa Cheung Steven Miller Hal Weinberg Ruth Grunau Google Scholar Sam Doesburg Urs Ribary Anthony Herdman Alexander Moiseev Teresa Cheung Steven Miller Hal Weinberg Ruth Grunau PubMed Sam Doesburg Urs Ribary Anthony Herdman Alexander Moiseev Teresa Cheung Steven Miller Hal Weinberg Ruth Grunau Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.