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Churchill NW, Hutchison MG, Graham SJ, Schweizer TA. Long-term changes in the small-world organization of brain networks after concussion. Sci Rep 2021; 11:6862. [PMID: 33767293 PMCID: PMC7994718 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-85811-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2020] [Accepted: 03/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
There is a growing body of literature using functional MRI to study the acute and long-term effects of concussion on functional brain networks. To date, studies have largely focused on changes in pairwise connectivity strength between brain regions. Less is known about how concussion affects whole-brain network topology, particularly the “small-world” organization which facilitates efficient communication at both local and global scales. The present study addressed this knowledge gap by measuring local and global efficiency of 26 concussed athletes at acute injury, return to play (RTP) and one year post-RTP, along with a cohort of 167 athletic controls. On average, concussed athletes showed no alterations in local efficiency but had elevated global efficiency at acute injury, which had resolved by RTP. Athletes with atypically long recovery, however, had reduced global efficiency at 1 year post-RTP, suggesting long-term functional abnormalities for this subgroup. Analyses of nodal efficiency further indicated that global network changes were driven by high-efficiency visual and sensorimotor regions and low-efficiency frontal and subcortical regions. This study provides evidence that concussion causes subtle acute and long-term changes in the small-world organization of the brain, with effects that are related to the clinical profile of recovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- N W Churchill
- Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada. .,Neuroscience Research Program, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
| | - M G Hutchison
- Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - S J Graham
- Physical Sciences Platform, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Sunnybrook Health Science Center, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - T A Schweizer
- Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Neuroscience Research Program, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Faculty of Medicine (Neurosurgery), University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,The Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME), University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
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