Impaired visual short-term memory capacity is distinctively associated with structural connectivity of the posterior thalamic radiation and the splenium of the corpus callosum in preterm-born adults

Menegaux, A. and Meng, C. and Neitzel, J. and Bäuml, J.G. and Muller, Hermann J. and Bartmann, P. and Wolkeg, D. and Wohlschläger, A.M. and Finke, K. and Sorg, C. (2017) Impaired visual short-term memory capacity is distinctively associated with structural connectivity of the posterior thalamic radiation and the splenium of the corpus callosum in preterm-born adults. NeuroImage 150 (Februa), pp. 68-76. ISSN 1053-8119.

Abstract

Preterm birth is associated with an increased risk for lasting changes in both the cortico-thalamic system and attention; however, the link between cortico-thalamic and attention changes is as yet little understood. In preterm newborns, cortico-cortical and cortico-thalamic structural connectivity are distinctively altered, with increased local clustering for cortico-cortical and decreased integrity for cortico-thalamic connectivity. In preterm-born adults, among the various attention functions, visual short-term memory (vSTM) capacity is selectively impaired. We hypothesized distinct associations between vSTM capacity and the structural integrity of cortico-thalamic and cortico-cortical connections, respectively, in preterm-born adults. A whole-report paradigm of briefly presented letter arrays based on the computationally formalized Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) was used to quantify parameter vSTM capacity in 26 preterm- and 21 full-term-born adults. Fractional anisotropy (FA) of posterior thalamic radiations and the splenium of the corpus callosum obtained by diffusion tensor imaging were analyzed by tract-based spatial statistics and used as proxies for cortico-thalamic and cortico-cortical structural connectivity. The relationship between vSTM capacity and cortico-thalamic and cortico-cortical connectivity, respectively, was significantly modified by prematurity. In full-term-born adults, the higher FA in the right posterior thalamic radiation the higher vSTM capacity; in preterm-born adults this FA-vSTM-relationship was inversed. In the splenium, higher FA was correlated with higher vSTM capacity in preterm-born adults, whereas no significant relationship was evident in full-term-born adults. These results indicate distinct associations between cortico-thalamic and cortico-cortical integrity and vSTM capacity in preterm-and full-term-born adults. Data suggest compensatory cortico-cortical fiber re-organization for attention deficits after preterm delivery.

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