Diffusion weighted imaging evidence of extra-callosal pathways for interhemispheric communication after complete commissurotomy

Nomi, Jason S.; Marshall, Emily; Zaidel, Eran; Biswal, Bharat; Castellanos, F. Xavier; Dick, Anthony Steven; Uddin, Lucina Q.; Mooshagian, Eric

doi:10.1007/s00429-019-01864-2

Original Article
Published: 07 May 2019

Diffusion weighted imaging evidence of extra-callosal pathways for interhemispheric communication after complete commissurotomy

Jason S. Nomi¹^na1,
Emily Marshall¹^na1,
Eran Zaidel^2,3,
Bharat Biswal⁴,
F. Xavier Castellanos^5,6,
Anthony Steven Dick⁷,
Lucina Q. Uddin ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2278-8962^1,8^na1 &
Eric Mooshagian ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5998-8445⁹^na1

Brain Structure and Function volume 224, pages 1897–1909 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

The integrity of white matter architecture in the human brain is related to cognitive processing abilities. The corpus callosum is the largest white matter bundle interconnecting the two cerebral hemispheres. “Split-brain” patients in whom all cortical commissures have been severed to alleviate intractable epilepsy demonstrate remarkably intact cognitive abilities despite the lack of this important interhemispheric pathway. While it has often been speculated that there are compensatory alterations in the remaining interhemispheric fibers in split-brain patients several years post-commissurotomy, this has never been directly shown. Here we examined extra-callosal pathways for interhemispheric communication in the brain of a patient who underwent complete cerebral commissurotomy using diffusion weighted imaging tractography. We found that compared with a healthy age-matched comparison group, the split-brain patient exhibited increased fractional anisotropy (FA) of the dorsal and ventral pontine decussations of the cortico-cerebellar interhemispheric pathways. Few differences were observed between the patient and the comparison group with respect to FA of other long-range intrahemispheric fibers. These results point to specific cerebellar anatomical substrates that may account for the spared interhemispheric coordination and intact cognitive abilities that have been extensively documented in this unique patient.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Anouk Scheres and Scott Squire for assistance with data collection.

Funding

This work was supported by a University of Miami Gabelli Senior Scholar Award, an award from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and National Institute of Mental Health [R01MH107549] to LQU. We also acknowledge the Nathan Kline Institute Enhanced Rockland Sample for the availability of age-matched comparison participants, collected with support from R01MH094639.

Author information

Jason S. Nomi, Emily Marshall, Lucina Q. Uddin and Eric Mooshagian contributed equally to the manuscript.

Authors and Affiliations

Department of Psychology, University of Miami, P.O. Box 248185-0751, Coral Gables, FL, 33124, USA
Jason S. Nomi, Emily Marshall & Lucina Q. Uddin
Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
Eran Zaidel
Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
Eran Zaidel
Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA
Bharat Biswal
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone, New York, NY, 10016, USA
F. Xavier Castellanos
Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, 10962, USA
F. Xavier Castellanos
Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, FL, 33199, USA
Anthony Steven Dick
Neuroscience Program, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, 33136, USA
Lucina Q. Uddin
Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, 63110, USA
Eric Mooshagian

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Jason S. Nomi
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Emily Marshall
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Eran Zaidel
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Bharat Biswal
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F. Xavier Castellanos
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Anthony Steven Dick
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Lucina Q. Uddin
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Eric Mooshagian
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Correspondence to Jason S. Nomi or Lucina Q. Uddin.

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Nomi, J.S., Marshall, E., Zaidel, E. et al. Diffusion weighted imaging evidence of extra-callosal pathways for interhemispheric communication after complete commissurotomy. Brain Struct Funct 224, 1897–1909 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-019-01864-2

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Received: 31 August 2018
Accepted: 20 March 2019
Published: 07 May 2019
Issue Date: 01 June 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-019-01864-2

Keywords

Corpus callosum
Structural connectivity
Interhemispheric transfer
Epilepsy
Hemispheric specialization
Laterality