White matter microstructure and receptive vocabulary in children with cerebral palsy: The role of interhemispheric connectivity.

Background: Communication and cognitive impairments are common impediments to participation and social functioning in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Bilateral language networks underlie the function of some high-level language-related cognitive functions.
Purpose: To explore the association between receptive vocabulary and white-matter microstructure in the temporal lobes and the central part of the temporo-temporal bundles in children with CP.
Materials and Methods: 37 children with spastic motor type CP (mean age 9.6 years, 25 male) underwent a receptive vocabulary test (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, PPVT-IV) and 3T MRI. Mean fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were calculated for the temporal lobes and the interhemispheric bundles traversing the splenium of the corpus callosum and the anterior commissure. Associations between microstructure and receptive vocabulary function were explored using univariable linear regression.
Results: PPVT-IV scores were significantly associated with mean white matter MD in the left temporal lobe, but not the right temporal lobe. There was no association between PPVT-IV and mean white matter FA in the temporal lobes. PPVT-IV scores were not significantly associated with the laterality of these diffusion tensor metrics. Within the corpus callosum, FA, but not MD of the temporo-temporal bundles was significantly associated with the PPVT-IV scores. Within the anterior commissure no equivalent relationship between diffusion metrics and PPVT-IV was found.
Conclusion: Our findings add further understanding to the pathophysiological basis underlying receptive vocabulary skills in children with CP that could extend to other patients with early brain damage. This study highlights the importance of interhemispheric connections for receptive vocabulary.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2023 Laporta-Hoyos et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)