Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Children treated for brain tumours exhibit altered brain structure and function leading to long-term cognitive impairments. These structural and functional alterations imply there may also be perturbations in the neural networks that underlie cognitive function. We investigated neural network disturbances by examining resting-state functional connectivity in paediatric brain tumour survivors (PBTS) relative to healthy children using magnetoencephalography. Time-series were reconstructed for cortical, subcortical and cerebellar sources in the Automated Anatomical Labeling atlas and filtered into 6 frequency bandwidths. Functional connectivity among brain regions was indexed using the phase lag index. Relative to healthy children, PBTS showed significantly increased functional connectivity in the delta (2-3Hz) band and decreased functional connectivity in the low gamma (30-59Hz) and high gamma (60-100Hz) bands. Similar changes in broader patient populations suggest that increased low frequency connectivity and decreased high frequency connectivity may be an overarching neural signature of brain injury and disease.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Samantha Gauvreau
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2767617908