Alterations Of Structural And Functional Connectivity In Deaf Children:Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies

Objective:In this study,functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging was used to explore the abnormal changes of brain structure and function in deaf children.On the other hand,the results of neuroimaging and behavioral tests were combined to provide relevant evidence for the executive function defects of deaf children,and to further explore the relationship between the executive function defects of deaf-mute children and brain structure and brain functional connections.Methods:28 deaf children were recruited from special education schools and 27 children with normal hearing were treated as controls and match with deaf children in age,sex and education.All human subjects were scheduled to complete brain magnetic resonance scanning.we use Based on the voxel-based morphometry(VBM)technique for detecting differences in gray matter volume(GMV)between deaf and normal hearing children.Trace-based Spatial Statistics(TBSS)was used to analyze the integrity of white matter cellulose in the brain of deaf children.A set of executive function(EF)tasks were completed for detecting differences in EF behavior performance between deaf and normal hearing children.All human subjects were also performed resting-state fMRI,which were analyzed by independent component analysis(ICA)and the executive control network was selected and compared between the deaf and normal hearing children.Results:Compared with those children with sound hearing,deaf children have smaller volume of gray matter in the left Angular gyrus(ANG.L;MIN coordinates:-48,-72,45;700 voxels),right Superior parietal gyrus(SPG.R;MIN coordinates:20,-62,57;594 voxels),left Middle occipital gyrus(MOG.L;MIN coordinates:-32,-87,42;782 voxels).The results of TBSS study showed that the FA value of white matter fiber in some areas of the brain of deaf and dumb children was significantly lower than that of normal children,including the area with posterior corona radiata superior corona radiata,anterior corona radiata,superior longitudinal fasciculus,corticopontine tract,cingulate gyrus,corpus callosum,superior thalamic radiation inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus,inferior longitudinal fasciculus,genu of corpus callosum,anterior limb of internal capsule,retrolenticular part of internal capsule and anterior thalamic radiation?Deaf children have weaker functional connectivity(FC)in the left Middle frontal gyrus,orbital part/left Inferior Frontal Gyrus(ORBmid.L/IFG.L;MIN coordinates:-24,21,3;54 voxels)with normal hearing children.In the behavioral test results,deaf children have defects in the switching function compared with normal children,which is statistically significant[t(42)=2.02,P=0.02<0.05].Conclusion:The volume of gray matter decreased in the angular gyrus,middle occipital gyrus and superior gyrus,the integrity of white matter fiber bundle was destroyed in a wide area,and the functional connection was weakened in the executive control network.There are some defects in executive function of deaf-mute children,and the neural mechanism may be related to the weakening of functional connections in executive function related brain areas and the decrease of gray matter volume in some parts of the brain.