Functional Connectivity Changes in Retired Rugby League Players: A Data-Driven Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
Name
neu.2019.6782.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
543.53 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
577c05b4505693212822230a8ca905c9
Author(s)
Guell, Xavier
Arnold Anteraper, Sheeba
Gardner, Andrew J
Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan
Kay-Lambkin, Frances
Iverson, Grant L
Gabrieli, John
Stanwell, Peter
Date Issued
2020
Journal
Journal of Neurotrauma
Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert Inc
Citation
Guell, Xavier, Arnold Anteraper, Sheeba, Gardner, Andrew J, Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan, Kay-Lambkin, Frances et al. 2020. "Functional Connectivity Changes in Retired Rugby League Players: A Data-Driven Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study." Journal of Neurotrauma, 37 (16).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
© Copyright 2020, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 2020. There is considerable interest in the long-term brain health of retired contact and collision sport athletes; however, little is known about possible underlying changes in functional brain connectivity in this group. We evaluated whole-brain functional connectivity patterns using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to determine whether alterations in functional connectivity distinguish retired professional athletes from a matched group of healthy community control subjects. Thirty-two retired athletes with a history of multiple self-reported sport-related concussions and 36 healthy community control subjects who were similar in age and education, completed functional magnetic resonance imaging. We identified brain regions with abnormal functional connectivity patterns using whole-brain MVPA as implemented in the Conn toolbox. First-level MVPA was performed using 64 principal component analysis (PCA) components. Second-level F test was performed using the first three MVPA components for retired athletes > controls group contrast. Post hoc seed-to-voxel analyses using the MVPA cluster results as seeds were performed to characterize functional connectivity abnormalities from brain regions identified by MVPA. MVPA revealed one cluster of abnormal functional connectivity located in cerebellar lobule V. This region of lobule V corresponded to the ventral attention network. Post hoc seed-to-voxel analysis using the cerebellar MVPA cluster as a seed revealed multiple areas of cerebral cortical hyper-connectivity and hypo-connectivity in retired athletes when compared with controls. This initial report suggests that cerebellar dysfunction might be present and clinically important in some retired athletes.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1089/NEU.2019.6782
