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Corpus callosum and posterior fossa development in monozygotic females: a morphometric MRI study of Turner syndrome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2003

Susannah L Fryer
Affiliation:
Stanford Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Hower Kwon
Affiliation:
Stanford Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Stephan Eliez
Affiliation:
Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Geneva University School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.
Allan L Reiss
Affiliation:
Stanford Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
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Abstract

Previous neuroimaging research in Turner syndrome (TS) has indicated parietal lobe anomalies, while anomalies in other brain loci have been less well-substantiated. This study focused on potential cerebellar abnormalities and possible disruptions of interhemispheric (parietal) callosal connections in individuals with TS. Twenty-seven female children and adolescents with TS (mean age 13 years, SD 4 years 2 months) and 27 age-matched female control individuals (mean age 13 years 2 months, SD 4 years 1 month) underwent MRI. Age range of all participants was 7 to 20 years. Morphometric analyses of midline brain structures were conducted using standardized, reliable methods. When compared with control participants, females with TS showed reduced areas of the genu of the corpus callosum, the pons, and vermis lobules VI-VII, and an increased area of the fourth ventricle. No group difference in intracranial area measurements was observed. The reduced area of the genu in TS may reflect compromised connectivity between inferior parietal regions. Further, cerebellar vermis hypoplasia associated with TS agrees with literature that suggests the posterior fossa as a region prone to structural alterations in the face of early developmental insult.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
© 2003 Mac Keith Press

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