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Visuospatial Associative Memory and Hippocampal Functioning in Congenital Hypothyroidism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2011

Sarah M. Wheeler ,
Mary Pat McAndrews ,
Erin D. Sheard  and
Joanne Rovet
Sarah M. Wheeler
Affiliation:
Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
Mary Pat McAndrews
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario Krembil Neuroscience Centre, Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, Ontario
Erin D. Sheard
Affiliation:
Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario
Joanne Rovet*
Affiliation:
Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Joanne Rovet, The Hospital for Sick Children, Psychology Research, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G1X8. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Congenital hypothyroidism is a pediatric endocrine disorder caused by insufficient endogenous thyroid hormone production. Children with congenital hypothyroidism have difficulties with episodic memory and abnormalities in hippocampal structure, suggesting deficient hippocampal functioning. To assess hippocampal activation in adolescents with congenital hypothyroidism (N = 14; age range, 11.5–14.7 years) compared with controls (N = 15; age range, 11.2–15.5 years), a functional magnetic resonance imaging visuospatial memory task was used. In this task, participants had to decide if object pairings were novel or were previously studied or if object pairs were in the same location as they were at study or had switched locations. Despite no group differences in task performance, adolescents with congenital hypothyroidism showed both increased magnitude of hippocampal activation relative to controls and bilateral hippocampal activation when only the left was observed in controls. Furthermore, the increased activation in the congenital hypothyroidism group was correlated with the severity of the hypothyroidism experienced early in life. These results suggest that perinatal deprivation of thyroid hormone has longstanding effects on hippocampal function and may account for memory problems experienced by adolescents with congenital hypothyroidism. (JINS, 2012, 18, 49–56)

Keywords

Hippocampal formationCongenital hypothyroidismThyroid hormoneEpisodic memoryfMRIAdolescents
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 49 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2011

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