مقاله انگلیسی شواهد مبنی بر rsfMRI جهت تغییرات اتصال عملکردی در بزرگسالان مبتلا به لکنت رشدی
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusions
Declarations
Acknowledgments
References
ABSTRACT
Persistent developmental stuttering (PDS) is defined as a speech disorder mainly characterized by intermittent involuntary disruption in normal fluency, time patterning, and rhythm of speech. Although extensive functional neuroimaging studies have explored brain activation alterations in stuttering, the main affected brain regions/ networks in PDS still remain unclear. Here, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated resting-state whole-brain functional connectivity of 15 adults who stutter (PDS group) and 15 age-matched control individuals to reveal the connectivity abnormalities associated with stuttering. We were also interested in exploring how the severity of stuttering varies across individuals to understand the compensatory mechanism of connectivity pattern in patients showing less symptoms. Our results revealed decreased connectivity of left frontal pole and left middle frontal gyrus (MidFG) with right precentral/postcentral gyrus in stuttering individuals compared with control participants, while less symptomatic PDS individuals showed greater functional connectivity between left MidFG and left caudate. Additionally, our finding indicated reduced connectivity in the PDS group between the left superior temporal gyrus (STG) and several brain regions including the right limbic lobe, right fusiform, and right cerebellum, as well as the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG). We also observed that PDS individuals with less severe symptoms had stronger connectivity between right MTG and several left hemispheric regions including inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and STG. The connectivity between right fronto-orbital and right MTG was also negatively correlated with stuttering severity. These findings may suggest the involvement of right MTG and left MidFG in successful compensatory mechanisms in more fluent stutterers.
Introduction
The interest in investigating the affected neural mechanisms in neurological and psychiatric disorders is growing fast. In hese areas, clinicians rely on therapeutic approaches, which are based on empirical observations with limited knowledge about the underlying mechanisms in the brain. Yet knowledge about the neural basis underlying the behavioral amendment of disorders could help improve the therapies. Stuttering is a speech disorder mainly characterized by repeated sounds or syllables or even words, intermittent prolongations and blocks, and disruptions in normal speech rate often accompanied by physical tension. Stuttering is categorized into three types including developmental, neurogenic, and psychogenic [1]. Developmental stuttering (DS) is very common in children under five, as children are developing their language abilities.