Biology subjects

Deoni, S.

Publications and source records attributed to Deoni, S..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

Language exposure and brain myelination in early development

The language environment to which children are exposed has an impact on later language and cognitive abilities as well as on brain development; however, it is unclear how early such impacts emerge. This study investigates the effects of childrens early language environment and socioeconomic status (SES) on brain structure in infancy at both 6 and 30 months of age. We used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to quantify concentrations of myelin in specific fiber tracts in the brain. Our central question was whether Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) measures from in-home recording devices and SES measures of maternal education and family income predicted myelin concentrations over development. Results show relationships between amount of in-home adult input and myelination in the white matter tracts most associated with language. Right hemisphere regions also show an association with SES, with older children from a higher SES background who were exposed to more adult input showing greater concentrations of myelin in language-related areas. We discuss these results in relation with the current literature and implications for future language research and intervention. Significance StatementThis is the first study to look at how brain myelination is impacted by language input and socioeconomic status early in development. We find robust relationships of both factors in language-related brain areas at 30 months of age.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Gut microbial genes are associated with neurocognition and brain development in healthy children

The gastrointestinal tract, its resident microorganisms, and the central nervous system are connected by bio-chemical signaling, also known as the "microbiome-gut-brain-axis." Both the human brain and the gut microbiome have critical developmental windows in the first years of life, raising the possibility that their development is co-occurring and likely co-dependent. Emerging evidence implicates gut microorganisms and microbiota composition in cognitive outcomes and neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., autism and anxiety), but the influence of gut microbial metabolism on typical neurodevelopment has not been explored in detail. We investigated the relationship of the microbiome with the neuroanatomy and cognitive function of 361 healthy children, demonstrating that differences in gut microbial taxa and gene functions are associated with overall cognitive function and with differences in the size of multiple brain regions. Using a combination of multivariate linear and machine learning (ML) models, we showed that many species, including Gordonibacter pamelae and Blautia wexlerae, were significantly associated with higher cognitive function, while some species such as Ruminococcus gnavus were more commonly found in children with low cognitive scores after controlling for sociodemographic factors. Microbial genes for enzymes involved in the metabolism of neuroactive compounds, particularly short-chain fatty acids such as acetate and propionate, were also associated with cognitive function. In addition, ML models were able to use microbial taxa to predict the volume of brain regions, and many taxa that were identified as important in predicting cognitive function also dominated the feature importance metric for individual brain regions. For example, B. wexlerae was the most important species in models predicting the size of the parahippocampal region in both the left and right hemispheres, while several species from the phylum Bacteroidetes, including GABA-producing B. ovatus, were important for predicting the size of the left accumbens area, but not the right. These findings provide potential biomarkers of neurocognition and brain development and may lead to the future development of targets for early detection and early intervention.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2018

Emergence of Human Amygdala Functional Networks: 3 Months to 5 Years of Age

Although the amygdalas role in shaping social behavior is especially important during early post-natal development, very little is known of human amygdala functional development before childhood. To address this important gap, this study used resting-state fMRI to examine early functional network development of the amygdala and its subregions in 80 participants from 3-months to 5-years of age. Whole brain functional connectivity with the whole amygdala and its laterobasal and superficial nuclear groups were largely similar to those seen in older children and adults, and functional distinctions between subregion networks exist already. These patterns suggest many amygdala functional circuits are intact from infancy, especially those that are part of larger motor, visual, auditory and subcortical (basal ganglia especially) networks. Notably, these observed robust amygdala functional networks in infancy precede reports to date of elicited amygdala reactivity in development. Developmental changes in connectivity were observed between the laterobasal nucleus and bilateral ventral temporal and motor cortex as well as between the superficial nuclei and medial thalamus, occipital cortex and a different region of motor cortex. These results show amygdala-subcortical and sensory-cortex connectivity begins refinement prior to childhood, though connectivity changes with associative and frontal cortical areas, seen after early childhood, were not evident in this age range. These findings represent early steps in understanding amygdala network dynamics across infancy through early childhood, an important period of emotional and cognitive development.

neuroscience↗