Microstructural Properties of the Cerebellar Peduncles in Children with Developmental Language Disorder
Microstructural Properties of the Cerebellar Peduncles in Children with Developmental Language Disorder
ABSTRACT Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) struggle to learn their native language for no apparent reason. While research on the neurobiological underpinnings of the disorder has focused on the role of cortico-striatal systems, little is known about the role of the cerebellum in DLD. Cortico-cerebellar circuits might be involved in the disorder as they contribute to complex sensorimotor skill learning, including the acquisition of spoken language. Here, we used diffusion-weighted imaging data from 77 typically developing and 54 children with DLD and performed probabilistic tractography to identify the cerebellum’s white matter tracts: the inferior, middle, and superior cerebellar peduncles. Children with DLD showed lower fractional anisotropy (FA) in the inferior cerebellar peduncles (ICP), fiber tracts that carry motor and sensory input via the inferior olive to the cerebellum. Lower FA in DLD was driven by lower axial diffusivity. Probing this further with more sophisticated modeling of diffusion data, we found higher orientation dispersion but no difference in neurite density in the ICP of DLD. Reduced FA is therefore unlikely to be reflecting microstructural differences in myelination in this tract, rather the organization of axons in these pathways is disrupted. ICP microstructure was not associated with language or motor coordination performance in our sample. We also found no differences in the middle and superior peduncles, the main pathways connecting the cerebellum with the cortex. To conclude, it is not cortico-cerebellar but atypical olivocerebellar white matter connections that characterize DLD and suggest the involvement of the olivocerebellar system in speech acquisition and development.
Cler Gabriel J.、Smith Harriet J.、Watkins Kate E.、Healy M¨￠ir¨|ad P.、Krishnan Saloni、Asaridou Salomi S.、Wiedemann Anna、Willis Hanna E.
Department of Experimental Psychology, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford||Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences, University of WashingtonDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford||MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of CambridgeDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of OxfordDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford||Department of Psychology, University of CambridgeDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford||Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of LondonDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of OxfordDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford||Department of Psychiatry, University of CambridgeDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford||Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oxford
神经病学、精神病学基础医学医学研究方法
Developmental language disordercerebellumtractographyDTINODDI
Cler Gabriel J.,Smith Harriet J.,Watkins Kate E.,Healy M¨￠ir¨|ad P.,Krishnan Saloni,Asaridou Salomi S.,Wiedemann Anna,Willis Hanna E..Microstructural Properties of the Cerebellar Peduncles in Children with Developmental Language Disorder[EB/OL].(2025-03-28)[2025-08-02].https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.13.548858.点此复制
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